Page 17 of Bitten By Mr. Darcy
“My ideas flow very quickly,” said Bingley, squaring off with Caroline, “and I cannot keep up with that flow, I find.”
She scoffed again.
“Might the two of you do this somewhere else more private?” said Darcy, leaning over the back of the writing chair. “Work that entirely out of your individual essences, and then we can all come back and have a pleasant evening.”
“I have nothing in my essence for Charles,” said Caroline.
“And I have nothing in mine for you,” said Darcy to her pointedly. “So, whatever it is we are doing here—”
“Your humility, Fitzwilliam, is beyond all measure,” said Caroline. “No one is asking you for anything at all.”
“This isn’t about you,” said Bingley to Darcy.
Darcy sighed heavily and got up from the writing desk.
“If you weren’t such a tall fellow, of course, I should not pay you half as much deference,” said Bingley to Darcy. “I declare, I do not know an object more full of awe and dread than Darcy, when he has made up his mind about something or other, no matter if it is the truth or not.”
Darcy glanced back and forth between the two of them. Perhaps he should never have come with them to the country. Perhaps he shouldn’t have sought them out at all.
It was odd, because for much of the time, he was happy never to seek out another vampire, though he knew many others of his kind were not happy unless they lived in little groups like the Bingley group. He was not happy keeping the company of other vampires constantly, but he did get these longings from time to time, wishing for another of his kind.
However, he had forgotten what this was like, all these ancient wounds and jealousies and slights. They had all been hurting one another for centuries. It was an exercise in torture, perhaps.
He resolved, yet again, to quit the country. He would go tomorrow night, at moonrise, and he would remember not to seek out the company of the Bingley vampires again, not for some time.
For now, his gaze fell on Elizabeth, who he realized had been watching and listening to all of this, her expression rapt. He went directly to her and sat straight down on the couch where she sat, right next to her.
“I see your design, friend,” called Bingley after him. “You dislike argument.”
Darcy looked up at Bingley. “Argument is pointless when neither side can change. And we are all changeless, are we not?”
Caroline looked up at Bingley with a pitiful expression on her face.
Bingley put his arm around her and she snuggled in against him.
There.
That was that.
Darcy turned back to Elizabeth, who was seemingly scandalized by how improperly close the two were.
“They are not brother and sister, are they?” she said, eyeing them.
“They had the same maker,” said Darcy.
Elizabeth looked at him. “Vampire maker?”
“It is like a familial relationship in some ways, but not in other ways,” said Darcy.
“Who made you?” said Elizabeth.
“I don’t talk about that,” he said immediately.
She raised her eyebrows.
He looked away. “Apologies. It is only that it is complicated and a bit shocking. It’s not the sort of thing to get into in the middle of a pleasant evening’s conversation.”
“Not my concern, I suppose,” she said. “I am to be vulnerable to you, easily swayed, easily influenced, and you are to remain aloof and impenetrable.”
