Mr. Darcy, Vampyre - By Amanda Grange Page 0,111

rock on which they stood with arms entwined and bodies pressed close together. It was over their feet, then over their knees, a blood-warm sea, rising quickly until she and Darcy were thigh deep in water.

‘It was the tablet,’ cried Nicolei sorrowfully, his voice barely audible above the tumult of cracking earth and sizzling fire and roaring wind. ‘You should have held on to the tablet, Old One. The tablet was true.’

Elizabeth looked up into Darcy’s eyes.

‘I shouldn’t have let you come,’ he said, turning all his attention to her and taking her face in his hands. ‘I should never have allowed it.’

‘It was not your fault; it was mine,’ she said. ‘I should have stayed behind. You tried to make me listen. I should not have gone against the portent.’

‘We could not have escaped it whatever we did, I see that now,’ said Darcy. ‘I only wish that you could have been spared and that you did not have to die with me.’

‘You are immortal,’ she said. ‘You will not die.’

‘I cannot die of old age, but even I can drown,’ he said. ‘But you should not have had to share my fate. You should be at home now, in Meryton, safe.’

‘I don’t regret anything,’ she said as the waters swirled around her waist and rose with frightening speed to her shoulders. ‘I don’t mind dying if I can die with you. Only kiss me and I will die happy.’

He turned up her face to his and kissed her fiercely, and she returned his kiss with passion as the waters swirled over their shoulders, and there amidst the noise and turmoil, they kissed and kissed again as they waited for the end.

But the end did not come. The waters started receding, going down slowly at first, retreating to their shoulders and then to their waist, then moving more rapidly, sinking to their knees, and then to their ankles before disappearing beneath the rocky floor as quickly as it had appeared. There was one final convulsion of the earth and a shower of rocks rained down from above, and then everything was silent. They stood amidst the dread and terrible wreckage, and yet miraculously the two of them were untouched.

Elizabeth lowered her hand from Darcy’s neck and as she did so she was filled with a sense of awe.

‘Your puncture marks. The bites,’ she said, running her fingers over the smooth skin of his neck. ‘They’ve gone. The water has washed them away.’

He lifted his hand to his neck and ran his fingers over the spot where they had been, then his eyes filled with profound wonderment.

‘What does it mean?’ she asked.

‘I don’t know. I hope—’

He was interrupted by Georgio’s hail and looking round, they saw that Nicolei and Georgio were unharmed. The two men had climbed back up to the top of the steps and were standing by the door. Nicolei was leaning heavily on Georgio’s arm.

‘Go on,’ called Darcy across the chasm that separated them. ‘Don’t wait for us. I will find a way out for Elizabeth and myself. Go back to the lodge, we will meet you again there.’

Georgio waved in acknowledgement and he and Nicolei disappeared through the door.

‘And now, we must find a way out,’ said Darcy. They were surrounded by cracks and crevices and the way would not be easy. ‘I think, if we go this way,’ he said, indicating a path that could be negotiated by small jumps over narrow cracks, ‘we can approach the door more nearly.’

Elizabeth, having come to the same conclusion, agreed.

They began to jump across the cracks, but they had crossed only two of them when the earth rocked again and Elizabeth was nearly thrown from her feet. She righted herself quickly, then put her hands to her ears as there was a terrible rumble, and to her astonishment, the side of the cavern started to slide away.

She stared at it in amazement. Faster and faster it went, slipping downwards to reveal glimpses of blue skies and daylight. Before another minute had passed, she found herself in a newly-opened cave overlooking the bright blue waters of the Mediterranean. Darcy, beside her, let out an astounded exclamation, and the two of them looked out in wonderment.

‘It is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen,’ said Elizabeth.

The sun was rising on the horizon, spreading its golden light over the world. She hardly dared turn towards Darcy for fear of what she might see, but she did so at last and felt herself awash with relief.

‘You are not transparent!’ she said.

He looked down at himself.

‘So that is what the portent meant,’ he said. ‘The curse has been broken, the shadow lifted. You have caused my death after all, Lizzy, or at least a part of me. It was the death of the vampyre you caused.’

He turned his face to the sun then he stretched out his arms and threw back his head as he basked in the glow of the sunrise.

‘It is many, many years since I have done this,’ he said. ‘To see the dawn of a new day, without fear, is something wonderful indeed.’

She watched him with an overpowering love.

And then he turned towards her.

For the first time since she had known him there was no tension in him, no aloofness, no painful restraint. There was only a man without burdens or curses. Free.

His eyes darkened and they began to smoulder, and she felt her legs grow weak. He ran the back of his hand across her cheek and she began to tremble. And there by the sea, in the new light of morning, they came together as one.

Epilogue

My dearest Jane,

I am sure you must have written to me, but none of your letters have reached me and I know that none of my letters have reached you. The post is very unreliable in these parts! No, not the Lake District, my dearest Jane, but the Continent. My dear Darcy took me through Europe and we have had many adventures along the way. I have learnt a great deal about him, much of it unsuspected, but all of it, in its own way, wonderful; by which I mean, my dearest Jane, that it was full of wonder. I know now why he was so reserved and why he would never let other people near. I know everything about him. And I have learnt this, Jane: that to know another human being absolutely, and to love them, is the greatest adventure of our lives.

I must go now; the carriage awaits. But it will not be long before I am back in England. I am longing to see you again. How much we will have to say to each other!

And how much I will have to conceal, she thought, as she read her letter through, adding to herself, though perhaps I will tell Jane everything, one day.

The door opened and a respectful servant stood there.

‘The carriage is at the door,’ he said.

‘One minute,’ said Elizabeth. She signed her letter, then folded it and wrote the direction. The servant stepped forward to take it. ‘Thank you, but I will post it myself,’ she said.

‘Very good.’

Darcy came into the drawing room, looking happy and carefree.

‘Are you ready?’ he asked. ‘The carriage is waiting. It is not as comfortable as our own coach, but I was lucky to be able to hire anything at such short notice, so far away from a city. We will not be travelling with it for long. We will soon be on board ship and heading for England.’

‘England and Pemberley,’ she said. She let her gaze wander for one last time around the hunting lodge and then she took his arm. ‘Then let us be off. It’s time to go home.’

About the Author

Amanda Grange is a bestselling author specializing in creative interpretations of classic novels and historic events, including Jane Austen’s novels and the Titanic shipwreck. Her Jane Austen sequel Mr. Darcy’s Diary is a best-seller in the US and the UK. She lives in England.