Mr. Darcy Vampyre (26 page)

‘The servants found it just where you threw it,' said Darcy.

‘Thank goodness! Now Jane will not be burdened with those troubles, at least.'

‘No, those troubles are over,' said Darcy.

‘It is a good omen!' she said. ‘I thought I would never escape that perilous situation and yet I did, and if such a hopeless situation turned out so well, could not another less hopeless situation turn out well also?'

‘Indeed it could, it can, and it will!' said Darcy. ‘Elizabeth, we were meant to be together. We will rid ourselves of this burden and we will be what we were always meant to be.'

She took his hands and her eyes danced.

‘Just think, before long, we may be walking together in the grounds at Pemberley, or visiting Jane and Bingley at Netherfield and walking in the lanes thereabouts, the four of us together, happy and safe, with a blossoming future to look forward to instead of one full of fear and dread.'

‘Then let us be on our way,' he said.

They went outside to find that Nicolei was already in the back of the cart, whilst his son, Georgio, was sitting on the box ready to drive it. Darcy's horse stood close by.

‘Will you ride with me?' he asked Elizabeth.

Elizabeth gladly mounted in front of him, feeling safe with him at her back despite the horse's restiveness, and they set off for the ruin.

The way to the ruin lay along sleepy lanes bordered by olive groves and vineyards. Despite the circumstances, Elizabeth took pleasure in her surroundings and in the steady trot of the horse and in the feel of Darcy's arms around her as he held the reins. He rode well, with an experience born of a lifetime in the saddle, and guided his horse with no more than a gentle pressure of the heel every now and again or a slight movement of the reins. Elizabeth, who was an indifferent horsewoman, thought how different it was to see the world from horseback when she did not have to guide the animal herself.

They passed citrus trees and red-roofed houses and always, on their left hand side, lay the calm blue waters of the sea.

After awhile Darcy turned inland and the cart followed as they traversed a narrow country lane. Some twenty minutes later they left the lane and turned off onto a rough track. It climbed a hill, and once at its summit, Elizabeth could look down to see a ruin far below. It was set in a grassy hollow and it was flanked to the east by the cliff wall and to the west by a further steep drop to the sea. Stretching great branches over it was an old and gnarled tree.

The light was fading as the horse picked its way down the hill and the cart rumbled along behind. As they drew closer she could see that the ruin was large with arched doorways that had fallen in and a collapsed roof. Partial walls still stood, and beneath them lay the stones which had fallen. Long grasses grew between the stones and wildflowers ran riot through them.

Darcy brought his horse to a halt by the side of the ruin and dismounted, then lifted Elizabeth from the saddle, and beside them the cart too rolled to a halt. He tethered the horse to the lower branches of the tree and it began to nibble the grass.

Darcy looked with some apprehension towards the horizon. The sun was beginning to set, spreading bands of red across the sky. He walked briskly towards the ruin, stepping over its tumbled stone walls and striding across its broken floor until he reached a point beyond one of the door arches and stood looking about him, as if trying to recall a distant memory. He walked a few steps further forwards and then knelt down, parting the long grasses that had grown through the tumbled stones in an effort to find the way down.

Elizabeth watched him, and as the sun's colours became more vibrant and more splendid, he started to change. He was no longer entirely solid. His outline was shimmering in the evening light, giving him an ethereal quality, and as she watched in fear and wonderment she saw him becoming transparent. As he faded, she had a sudden urge to reach out and touch him. To her relief, he felt real. She could rest her hand on his shoulder and feel the muscle beneath, but she had the uncanny feeling that if he lost any more form, her hand could slip straight through.

He gave a sudden cry, saying, ‘Here!' and she pulled her hand back as he began to tug more vigorously at the grasses, ripping them up in huge handfuls to reveal the dark passage into the earth that lay beneath.

Georgio left the cart, where he had been seeing to the horse, and went to help him, his large brawny muscles making quick work of the debris that was clogging the opening. Once it had been cleared, Elizabeth saw a ramp leading down into the bowels of the earth. It was very dark, and the end of the ramp could not be seen. Georgio went back to the cart and returned with torches. He lit them, first one for Elizabeth and then one for Darcy, and then he went over to his father and helped him out of the cart. Nicolei leaned on his arm and together the four of them proceeded cautiously down the ramp, with Darcy leading the way.

They found themselves in an underground passage with a low roof. Strange shadows flickered on the walls and the
drip
,
drip
of water could be heard. Down went the ramp. Down and down. Then, just as Elizabeth thought she could stand the confined space no longer, the ramp led into the cellar, where a few bottles of wine were still lying on a wooden rack, coated thickly with dust.

Darcy went forwards slowly, motioning her to stay back. The reason for this soon became clear. In the floor towards the end of the cellar was a gaping black hole where the floor had caved in.

‘There must have been a disturbance of the earth some time ago which damaged the foundations and brought the building down,' said Darcy. He looked down into the hole, holding his torch low the better to see. ‘This bit will not be easy,' he said to Elizabeth and Nicolei. ‘Are you still determined to come?'

‘I am,' said Elizabeth.

‘I too,' said Nicolei.

Darcy gave a reluctant nod. Then, handing his torch to Georgio, he lowered himself into the hole.

There was silence, with only the steady
drip
,
drip
to mark the passage of time. Then Darcy's voice called up, ‘It's all right, you can come down.'

Elizabeth sat on the side of the hole and then gingerly lowered herself down, with Darcy catching hold of her and helping her to finish her descent.

She found herself in an underground cavern which was lit by a weird green light, and she felt a sense of awe as she looked about her, taking in the sublime remnant of antiquity. The temple was large and circular. Roman columns, grooved and topped with elaborate scrollwork, could dimly be seen in the shadows, ringing the temple at the eight points of the compass. Most of them were still standing, but two had fallen and lay broken on the floor. Within that ring, six statues were set, all made of marble, standing on plinths that made them some twelve feet high. She walked round, holding her torch aloft, and upon examining them, she found that they were similar to the statues she had seen in museums when visiting her aunt and uncle in London, portraying as they did the old Roman gods. Behind her, Darcy and Georgio, with great difficulty, managed to lower Nicolei through the hole.

She paused in front of the first statue and recognised him as Neptune, god of the sea. He had a toga half draped across his torso, a long, curling beard, and in his hand he held a trident. Beside him, at his feet, was a monster from the deep. Next to him was Apollo, god of the sun, young and beardless, holding his bow and arrow, with his lyre beside him. Then came Minerva, goddess of wisdom, an owl perched on her outstretched hand. After her was Jupiter, her father, lord of the skies, and then Pluto, god of the underworld. He wore a fearsome aspect and beside him was his three-headed dog Cerberus. After him, completing the circle, opposite the goddess Minerva with her love of learning, came an unsettling image of Bacchus, god of wine, lord of chaos, with an impudent satyr curled around his legs.

Nicolei was at last lowered through the hole and Georgio swiftly followed, until at last they all stood together in the centre of the temple.

‘What now?' asked Elizabeth.

‘There is a chamber beneath us, if we are in the right place,' said Nicolei, ‘and that is the chamber we seek.'

‘Then we must look for it,' said Darcy.

Georgio lit two more torches, and with the better light, they could see that there were passages beyond the columns, radiating outwards. Whilst the others examined the passages, Nicolei rested himself on one of the broken columns.

‘This leads down,' said Darcy.

‘And this,' said Georgio, who had gone to one of the other passages.

‘And this,' said Elizabeth, from the mouth of a third.

‘Do you know which one we should follow?' Darcy asked Nicolei.

Nicolei, breathing noisily still with the effort of the descent, shook his head.

‘No, Old One.'

‘Then I will have to try them one by one.'

‘We will go together,' said Elizabeth.

‘No,' Darcy said. ‘We do not know what is lurking in the darkness. You will stay here with Nicolei. I will take Georgio with me. Never fear,' he said, ‘once I find the way down, I will return for you.'

He kissed her on her forehead and then he was gone, disappearing down one of the passages with Georgio behind him.

Elizabeth watched him go, but when he had disappeared from view, she went to sit with Nicolei on the fallen column.

‘Where do they come from, the vampyres?' she asked. She knew so little about them, but Nicolei seemed to know more. ‘Did they have their genesis here, near Rome?'

‘I do not know,' he said. ‘I only know that they are revered among my people and that they are very old.'

‘Darcy said that he first met your people when he saved the life of the head man as he was travelling to another village to arrange a marriage.'

‘Yes, that is so. The man he saved was my great-grandfather, and the marriage he was arranging was that of his son, my grandfather. If the Old One had not saved him, then the marriage would not have gone ahead and there would have been war between our villages. It would have been thought that the neighbouring people had refused my great grandfather's proposals and had killed him in pride and anger. But because of the help of the Old One, our villages became united and flourished in peace and prosperity for many years. My whole village is grateful to him for this. And I am grateful to him because, without his help, my grandfather would not have married my grandmother and I, and Georgio, would not be here.'

Elizabeth sat in thought but at last she said, ‘Do you know what lies in the chamber we are seeking?'

‘No,' Nicolei said.

‘But it is older than the temple?'

‘Much, much older. It is from a time when nature was greater than man, but also more in harmony with him. The vampyre embodies this, for he is both man and beast.'

‘What will you do when Darcy is no longer a vampyre?' asked Elizabeth, saying
when
and not
if
in an attempt to will it to be so. ‘Who will protect your village?'

‘Times are not as bad as they were. We are more prosperous now, and more numerous. We have many strong sons, and if need be, we can pay for others to help us. Now too the hills are safer than they were. There are bandits, yes, but they are not so many. We will survive,' said Nicolei. ‘But something is passing, something of great majesty, and a power is going out of the world.'

They sat in silence.

At last Elizabeth could bear it no longer, and she relieved her spirits by walking around the chamber. Nicolei watched her, but then, curious as to his surroundings, he begged her for the use of her arm. She gave it gladly. They examined the statues more closely and then the columns, seeing that they had been sculpted by an artist of great talent. Behind the columns the wall appeared to be made of solid rock. Its surface was uneven and water trickled down it in a small, steady stream. Its colour was that of dry sand, shot through with occasional veins of green and rust which gleamed fitfully in the torchlight. Set into them at waist height, one between each two columns, was a basin. To begin with, Elizabeth thought the basins were natural, but they were so regular in their spacing that she gradually realised that they too had been carved.

They had gone some three quarters of the way round when at last she heard footsteps. They were so faint at first that she thought they were in her imagination, but then they became louder and stronger, and she ran to the mouth of the tunnel from which they came. The echoes were deceptive, and it was from another tunnel mouth that Darcy at last emerged.

He was looking dishevelled. His hair was rumpled, his coat was covered in a fine sandy powder, and his coat was ripped across the shoulder. His cravat was torn and hung from his neck in a tangle of linen. There was a hole in his breeches at the knee, and his boots were caked with mud. Georgio was hard on his heels, his face ashen.

‘What happened?' asked Elizabeth, running over to him and lifting her hand to his cheek.

He took it and kissed it, but all he would say is, ‘That is not the way. We will have to try another passage.'

Georgio visibly blanched.

‘I cannot…' he said in fear and trembling.

Darcy looked at him with sympathy. ‘I do not expect it. You have faced a challenge that few would have faced and acquitted yourself with great bravery, but the horrors of the passages are not for your kind. It is for me to face them alone.'

‘No!' said Elizabeth.

‘My love, it is the only way. I have to do this. For you. For me. For us.'

‘And yet,' said Nicolei speaking slowly, ‘it may not be necessary for anyone to go there. I think there is another way.'

Darcy looked at him enquiringly and Elizabeth followed his gaze. Nicolei was standing next to the wall at the eastern side of the temple, by one of the basins.

‘I have found… I think I have found…' Nicolei said, ‘…writing.'

He rubbed the surface dirt away with his finger, and Elizabeth could see a fine flowing script underneath.

‘What does it say?' she asked.

‘It is very old, a dialect. Few speak it now. It says… it says the way will be eased by a… by something close to the… I cannot read this word… something close to the hide… no, the skin… I think this word means father… no, not father, the one who makes. I think it means
sire
.'

‘I don't understand,' said Elizabeth.

‘It means that if I have something worn by my sire, the vampyre who made me, it will smooth my way,' said Darcy.

‘There is more,' Nicolei went on, rubbing again with his finger. ‘It says rest in… no, lay in… lay in the hollow. It means, I think, put it in the hollow of the bowl.'

‘If only I had something,' said Darcy regretfully, ‘but I have nothing. I will have to continue without it.'

‘Perhaps not,' said Elizabeth, struggling to recall a slight memory. She turned to Darcy as it came back to her. ‘When you came to my rescue on the beach, when you thought Lady Catherine was attacking me and knocked her back, she left an indentation in the cliff, and caught in the indentation was her veil. It must have been embedded in the rock when she pulled herself free. I saw it blowing in the breeze.'