Page 12 of Bitten By Mr. Darcy
Elizabeth let out another noise, something high-pitched, something indignant.
“Oh, good,cor meum, you did stop,” said Caroline to him. “I thought I should have to pull you off of her.” She smirked.
“We must take them home,” said Darcy.
“Oh, but I have wasted all that effort of going and charming the whole family,” said Caroline. “They think that Miss Bennet has a cold and that she must stay as our guest for days.”
“We shall never keep them days,” said Darcy. “Miss Elizabeth will take her the minute the sun rises and we shall not be able to stop her then.”
Caroline shrugged, inspecting her fingernails. “We can lock them away somewhere.”
“You aren’t serious,” said Darcy.
“We are not that way,” said Bingley, still affectionately stroking Jane’s hair. “We do not behave like beasts, Caroline.”
“They won’t remember,” said Caroline, shrugging. “If this one could be easily charmed, we wouldn’t have to lock them up. They could both be quite comfortable.”
Elizabeth rounded on Mr. Darcy. “You said you would let us go.”
“I am letting you go,” said Mr. Darcy, but then he did something rather abominable. He closed the distance between them and as he got closer, he watched as her chest rose and fell as her body grew loose and relaxed, because some part of her welcomed him. In her thinking mind, she knew to be frightened of him, but her body did not fear him at all. He should not use that against her, for hewasa danger to her. But he found himself reaching out with one finger and tracing the outline of her chin, guiding her gaze gently to meet his. “But I should like you to stay, Miss Elizabeth.”
She made a funny noise in the back of her throat, and her expression was one of sheer devastation.
“If you stay,” he breathed, “I shall bite you again. You’d like that, would you not?”
Her jaw worked.
“I should like it, anyway,” he said. “You could do it for me? Would you like to please me, Miss Elizabeth?”
She shivered, and her body canted toward him. “Yes,” she breathed.
He rubbed his thumb over her lower lip. “No one will harm you, I swear it. Say you’ll stay?”
“I…” She shivered again. “I shall stay. We shall… stay.”
CHAPTER FOUR
THE SUNRISE LOOMED, and the Bennet sisters were guided to two rooms where they could sleep. They were tucked away in their beds, the doors shut, and left to dream.
Mr. Darcy lingered outside Elizabeth’s door until he realized Caroline was lingering, too.
Then he turned away from the door and began to walk down the hallway towards the part of the house that was safe from the sun.
Caroline caught up to him. “Thank you for your assistance. It will be a little lark, having them here with us. We haven’t done anything fun in some time. It reminds me of the days when things were easier, when we had much more freedom, back when we could spend days feasting and no one was the wiser.”
“I don’t think we had more freedom then,” he said. “I think we have more freedom now, in cities, because cities afford more anonymity than ever before. Besides, I never liked those feasts.”
She snorted, falling into step with him. “Of course you did.”
“They are not…” He could not find the word. He wanted to say that they were not food, but of course, they were. Even so, he knew there was a difference between the way that they interacted with humans and the way predators interacted with prey. Because they were too much the same as the humans—they looked just like humans and they dressed and spoke likethem and they wanted to do things with them that at least mimicked romance, even if it wasn’t really romance, and… “We are different than them, Caroline, it is true. But I don’t think we’re superior.”
She laughed. “I never said we were.”
Not in words, he supposed. But he was sure she thought it. She behaved as if she did.
“I didn’t assist you with your scheme because I wish to trap two pretty young girls here and use them for our pleasure,” he said.
“No?” she said, laughing. “Why did you assist?”
