Dead...Or So We Thought

Chapter Four

After everyone was settled in one the two carriages, Jane, Charles, Georgiana and Kira in one, Mencheres and Lizzy in the other, they set off for their destination.  Mencheres had insisted that Elizabeth be the only one to ride with him, but Kira would fill the others in along the way.

"I know this will seem strange, and if I were you I would be searching for any sign of trickery, no matter how small.  But please, listen to me, "Mencheres asked as the started off.

With a  small smile, Lizzy informed him that she already had, had found no trickery and was willing to listen.

"After the coroner examined the body, I snuck into the room.  I'd met Darcy once, in his club, about three weeks before.  Almost all he'd been able to talk about was you, and his sister, Georgiana.  I'd liked him right off, because while he talked, he wasn't complaining like a lot of men do abut their wives and sisters.  When I asked him questions, he answered them honestly, with feeling.  When I'd finished asking questions, having found out all I needed to know about his character and his family, and he'd finished his piece, he asked me about my family.  That was a little trickier, but I'd told him what I could: I was married to a woman whom I'd once loved, but now realized my mistake.  I had no family left alive, but I had friends that I loved like family"  Here Mencheres stopped looking at Lizzy with a far away look in his dark eyes.  "Of course, those friends were like sons, rather than brothers, but family all the same.  I knew when I'd found him in the coroner's office, almost dead from lack of blood, but somehow still alive, that there was no way a man who loved as much as he had should die like that.  I healed his wounds and gave him my blood, which started the transformation process.  I carried his body out of there and took him to my home, which was about two miles away from the eastern border of Pemberly."

"Then why did he never come see me after his transformation was complete and he was in control of himself again?"  Lizzy interrupted.

"How would you have reacted if your husband had come back after you'd watched him get run over, held him as he died, and attended his funeral, all before finding out that vampires exited?"  Mencheres asked, leaning forward, clasping his hands in front of him, elbows on his knees.

"I do suppose you have a point. But once he'd found out hat I'd been turned?  Why did he not come?  Why did he not search for me?"  Lizzy asked, struggling to comprehend why it had been so long since she'd heard from him.

"We only found out about your being turned roughly 50 years ago.  With you moving almost as soon as we found out, without a hint as to where you were going, there really was no chance for him to write you.  We had only found you last week, and he wasted no time writing you.  He insists on living in the 1800's, hence the carriages and the letter with the wax seal.  Perhaps you can convince him that life is easier now and we don't need to write letters and plan trips by carriage that take almost four times as long as if we'd taken a car."  Glancing at Lizzy's hands folded in her lap, for the first time he saw the ring she still wore upon her left ring finger.  "I see he's not the only one who has trouble letting go of the past," he said gently, nodding towards her hands.

"Hmm?  Oh!  Well, I never really saw a reason to take it off.  It was one of the few physical things I had that would hold up to extensive traveling that would help me remember him.  The only other reminder I have," she said, reaching around behind her neck to undo her necklace, "is this," as she pulled out a plain gold band on a fine chain and holding it our for Mencheres.

Reaching for the ring, Mencheres wondered how it could remind her of Darcy.  Glancing back at her ring, he saw that both rings appeared to be the same age and my the same craftsman.  Further examining the ring in his hand, he came to the conclusion that it must be "Darcy's ring!  When he awoke from his transformation, after he'd sated his blood lust, one of the first questions he'd asked was 'Where's my ring?' followed by 'Is Lizzy okay?' and 'Where am I?'."

Looking out the window, trying to sort through all the emotions she was feeling, Lizzy saw the other carriage drive by on the next road.  Turning to Mencheres, she asked "Why did the other carriage not follow us?  Are we not all going to the same destination?"

"We are all going to the same place, but I thought you'd like a few minutes alone with your husband after 200 years before the others arrived,"  Mencheres answered with a slight smile as the carriage slowed in front of the steps leading up the Pemberley mansion.

As the door opened, Mencheres stepped out and offered Lizzy a hand down.  As she exited the carriage, she looked up at the house and spotted a tall figure watching her.

He looked vaguely familiar, but she couldn't place why.  He was dressed in breeches and a tailored coat, with thigh-high boots.  If only she could place him, figure out why he looked so familiar...