Viscounts and Vampires

Chapter Eleven

Olivia Hasting finally left her room at two for a late luncheon. Eleanor, who had been sitting listlessly in the drawing room for the past hour, rushed into the dining room as soon as she heard voices. Olivia was sitting at the head of the table, looking tired.

"Mother," Eleanor said. She hesitantly made her way up the table and sat down at her mother's side.

"Eleanor," Olivia said. She looked tired.

"How are you?"

"Tired. I don't think I slept last night."

"Neither did I," Eleanor said. She supposed she probably looked just as tired as her mother. "Is there any word on Rose?"

Olivia shook her head. "She's still asleep. She's so pale. The vamp must have taken a lot of blood."

"But she's not...she hasn't...?" Eleanor could barely give voice to her fear.

"She's human," Olivia said. "She would have turned by now if she was going to. I think he was just trying to kill her."

"How's Robert?"

"He's barely left her side. Doctor Green wanted to bleed her but Robert nearly threw him out of the room."

"The last thing she needs is to lose more blood."

"He doesn't know that." Olivia sighed deeply. She ran a hand across her face. "Why didn't you tell me, Eleanor?"

Eleanor looked away, down at the table. "I knew you'd be worried."

"I think I have a right to be."

Eleanor traced a finger along the patterned tablecloth. "You would have taken us back to Holloway," she finally said. "I needed to stay in London if I was going to do any good."

Olivia's voice was calm, frighteningly so. "I would have. We would have left immediately and we would have been safe. All of us."

Eleanor leaned forward. "Mother, you have to know that I didn't think anything like this would happen. I found out that they were back and I had to do something."

"You didn't have to."

"I did," Eleanor repeated. "I couldn't just pretend everything was normal when it wasn't."

Olivia ran a hand across her brow. "That's all I wanted this summer to be. Normal."

"I know," Eleanor said in a small voice. "But the vampires are back. I promise, though, I didn't think any of you would be in danger."

"Just you, then."

"I'm sorry?"

"You're the only one you thought would be endangered," Olivia clarified. "As if that is any better. As if watching you get injured and killed would not hurt the rest of us."

"Mother—"

"Just listen for a moment, Eleanor. I thought not talking about these things would be easier, but...I think I've done you a disservice. I've spend the whole summer pretending the last ten years didn't exist and that wasn't fair to either of us. Maybe if I had just been open with you from the beginning, you would have felt you could be open with me."

"Mother, I never meant to lie to you."

"I know. And I know that you thought what you were doing was right. But...I know what it's like to lose someone I love, Eleanor. That's why I've pushed you so hard to fit in. I didn't want to lose you the way I lost your father, to these hunters."

"It wasn't hunters," Eleanor said, confused. She could quite clearly recall the night that vampires had killed her father.

"Maybe in the end. But the truth is, I lost your father a long time ago. I thought we would have a chance together once we left London, once we had you and Robert. And we did, for a while. He actually gave up hunting for a time, but he was still obsessed with vampires. And since there weren't any left in England, eventually he had to go somewhere else to find them."