Mr. Darcy's Bite (2 page)

When Lizzy went down for breakfast, the relaxed atmosphere of the previous evening was gone. Mr. Darcy fairly sprang out of his chair to greet her, and there was a nervous intensity in his manner that reminded her of Magic, the family terrier, who jumped up and down in front of the door whenever she wanted to go outside. On the other hand, Georgiana and Anne looked anxious. What was the reason for such a change?

After pleasantries were exchanged and the previous night's entertainments commented upon, both ladies excused themselves, stating that they “hoped” to see Lizzy later in the day.

“What a curious thing to say. Why would I not see them?” Lizzy asked Mr. Darcy. “Surely, they will be here when we return. After all, we are only going for a walk in the gardens.”

“I think they meant to say that they
hope
you will want to see them after our walk. So shall we go?”

Lizzy found that statement to be even odder. What could possibly happen during a stroll in the park that would make Lizzy not want to be in Georgiana and Anne's company, and she felt a queasiness growing in her stomach.

The pair did not walk alone. David and Goliath, Mr. Darcy's whippets, were at their master's heels. They were as lively a pair as Lizzy had ever seen, and they loved to run just for the pure joy of the exercise. It was truly a sight to behold when they went all out.

“You like dogs, don't you, Elizabeth?” Darcy asked, following her gaze.

“I am very fond of dogs. At one time, we had as many as five of them in the house, but after each one died, Papa asked that they not be replaced. Since he now requires the use of his spectacles, he found that he was always tripping over them. The only one remaining is Magic, our little Scottie.”

“Do you know that dogs are descendants of wolves?”

“Yes, I did know that, but it is hard to imagine Magic running with a pack.”

“Yes, that would be hard to imagine because pack animals are not selfish. But it is true that dogs are domesticated wolves.”

Lizzy decided to let the comment about Magic pass. It would be difficult to defend the Scottie's behavior considering that she basically ran the household and listened to no one, except Mr. Darcy, even though he spent so little time with her.

“You seem to have a real interest in wolves, sir. Is this another scenario you imagined as a boy—running with a pack of wolves?”

“Not a large pack—more on the order of one or two other wolves—or werewolves.”

“Werewolves!” Lizzy started to laugh. “Surely, you do not believe in such legends. Vampires and werewolves. They are stories made up to scare children into behaving themselves.”

“I agree with you that stories about vampires are utter nonsense and are believed only by the simpleminded, but a lot of legends have their roots in fact.”

“That is true of some things, but not werewolves.”

Darcy stopped and turned to Lizzy, and she looked into his eyes. They were a beautiful gray-green and one of the first things she had admired about him. But he had never looked at her with such intensity, and a sense of foreboding came over her.

“I love you, Elizabeth Bennet. Whenever I see you, I am filled with joy.” After stepping away from her, he continued. “I actually never thought I would fall in love for reasons I shall shortly explain. However, I
am
in love—deeply and profoundly in love—and if after I share my secret you have not run back to Pemberley, I shall have a question to ask you.”

“Mr. Darcy, you are making me nervous. What secret could you possibly have that would cause me to run away from you?”

“That is a good question, and my answer begins with an event that happened fourteen years ago when my father and I were traveling in the Black Forest in Germany. Our carriage became mired in mud, and while the men tried to dig it out, I went into the woods. Not very deep, but Nature called. This next bit is rather embarrassing, but it is necessary for you to understand what happened. Nature required that I have my pants down, and just at that moment, a wolf walked by. She had not seen me, and because I had startled her, she scratched me with her fang. I know that it was an accident because she began to cower and whimper.”

“Mr. Darcy,” Lizzy said, interrupting, “are you saying that you were bitten by a wolf in the forest and that this wild animal was trying to apologize for biting you?”

“That is close to what I am saying, but I need to add one other detail. It was not a wolf who bit me, but a werewolf.”

Lizzy now burst out laughing. “Shame on you, Mr. Darcy, for going on in such a way. Is this what I have to look forward to? Scary stories on the night of a full moon?”

Lizzy waited for Mr. Darcy to break out into his wonderful smile—to let her know that he had been teasing her—but he did not.

“Mr. Darcy, please tell me you are in jest.”

“I wish I could, but that would be a lie, and I promise that I shall never lie to you,” he said, and Lizzy could hear the tension in his voice. “Elizabeth, as a result of that bite, I became a werewolf.”

Darcy recounted for an ashen-faced Elizabeth the sequence of events that followed his being bitten in the Black Forest.

“As soon as I got back to the carriage, I told my father what had happened and showed him the bite mark. When he saw it, he was greatly relieved. ‘A mere scratch,' he kept saying over and over as if to convince himself that it was impossible for his son to have ever been in danger of being harmed by a wild animal. But Herr Beck, our translator, was alarmed by the she wolf's actions, insisting, quite correctly, that no true wolf would have acted in such a manner and informed my father that it was known that there were werewolves in the Black Forest. ‘Werewolves? Those are stories invented for the amusement of the uneducated,' Papa insisted. Everything Herr Beck said was met with the same dismissive attitude by my father.

“When we arrived in Baden, Papa told me that nothing should be said to my mother. The reason we were in Baden was so that Mama might take the waters. Two years earlier, she suffered a miscarriage and had been in poor health since that time. We were traveling around Europe looking for a cure for her malaise and had been told that the waters at Baden were very beneficial for women who had weakened constitutions, and she did improve. Unfortunately, she died three years later after giving birth to a stillborn child.

“My father was deeply unsettled by what happened in the forest, and even though Herr Beck advised against it, Papa immediately began to make arrangements for our return to England. Although he had been hired for the purpose of serving as a guide and interpreter and not as a guardian of my person, my father accused Herr Beck of neglect, and he was dismissed. Despite being discharged, he continued to press my father about the bite. He provided him with the name of a doctor in Baden who was known to have treated wolf bites. It was only at my request that Papa finally agreed to visit with Dr. Philipp because the wound was not healing.

“As soon as the doctor heard my story, he told my father that there was no doubt that I had been bitten by a werewolf, and he knew exactly what would happen to me in the coming months. During the full moon of the first month, I would run a high fever, and my dreams would be overtaken by visions of running through forests and hunting game. At the time of the second full moon, some of the physical characteristics of the wolf would emerge, and a full transformation would take place with the arrival of the third full moon.

“After returning to England, everything happened exactly as Dr. Philipp said it would, and so before the third month, Papa and I went to a hunting lodge in the north of England, and that is where my first full transformation took place. I was not yet fourteen years old.”

Lizzy looked around for some place to sit down, but there was none, and she was afraid that if she moved, her knees would buckle underneath her. This was insane. There were no such things as werewolves. Had she fallen in love with a man who was given to flights of fantasy?

“Elizabeth, it is not as bad as you think. It wasn't so much a bite as a scratch, and that does make a difference. You see, I only transform into a werewolf for two days, and then I am back to being Mr. Darcy.”

“You keep using that word, ‘transform.' What does it mean?”

“It means I become a wolf. A big, black, wolf. Somewhat above average in size for a werewolf and with a very nice coat. You might prefer to think of me as a large dog rather than a werewolf,” he said, smiling weakly.

Lizzy was horrified by his story and started to walk backwards away from Mr. Darcy, moving in the direction of Pemberley, but Mr. Darcy reached out to stop her.

“That is the reason I had to leave Hertfordshire so often, the reason I must leave you now. This is where I need to be during my transformation, and tonight is a full moon. At dusk, the change will begin. I am sure, at this moment, you are thinking about how quickly you can leave Pemberley, but I would ask that you stay. While I am gone, Georgie and Anne will be with you to explain everything. We have arranged a signal. If you want to see me as a werewolf, they will light the candle in the window in a front bedroom, and I will come and introduce myself.

“If, however, there is no candle, I will remain in the woods, and I promise I will never see you again. You can go on with your life acting as if none of this happened. Whether or not we are together is now in your hands.” Mr. Darcy looked up into the sky. “Tonight is the eve of All Saints' Day. At this time of year, the days are very short, and the sun will soon sink behind the hills. I must go.”

Mr. Darcy extended his arm, but as the pair walked to the manor house, not a word was exchanged between them.

Mr. Darcy walked with Lizzy as far as the house, but then excused himself and went off in the direction of the stables. When she entered the foyer, Georgiana and Anne were waiting for her, and both ladies could tell that Darcy's revelation had completely shattered her composure. With all color drained from her face, Elizabeth looked as if she had just had the fright of her life, and she might very well have.

Georgiana looked to her twenty-five-year-old cousin, hoping that she would know what to say, but Lizzy spoke first.

“I just want to go to my room, so if you will excuse me.” She swept past them and went up the stairs.

Georgiana thought that they should go after her, but Anne discouraged her. “She needs time to think about what she has just learned. If we speak to her now, we might only make matters worse.”

“From the look on her face, I don't think that is possible,” Georgiana said, and she felt tears welling up in her eyes. “Will loves her so much. If she rejects him, it will break his heart,” she said as the tears spilled down her cheeks.

“This is far from over,” Anne said with an optimism she did not feel, but for William's sake, as well as Georgiana's, she had to hope for a better outcome than one could reasonably expect at the moment.

Lizzy's room was on the north side of the house, and although it was early afternoon, the room was already growing dark. She went to the bed and removed the ties holding the curtains open and climbed in as if she were crawling into a cave. She did not want to see anything that reminded her that she was in the home of Fitzwilliam Darcy, master of Pemberley, country gentleman, and werewolf.

She curled up into a tight ball and lay there as if paralyzed, and she felt as if her brain was frozen as well because she could not take in what she just heard. Mr. Darcy, a werewolf? But werewolves only existed in fright tales, such as those published by the Grimm brothers, and she only knew of their existence because Charlotte's brothers loved to tell such stories and derived great pleasure from scaring the living daylights out of the Bennet sisters.

Lizzy lay in that position all afternoon, and when she heard Ellie, the maid, come into the room to ask if she planned to come down for supper, she pretended to be asleep. When she heard the door open again, she assumed it was Ellie. She had no idea how much time had elapsed, nor did she care.

“Elizabeth, it is Anne. May I please speak to you?” When Lizzy did not answer, Anne told her that she would sit quietly in a chair near the fireplace until she was ready to talk, but Lizzy desperately needed to use the chamber pot and asked Anne to come back in fifteen minutes. Maybe, possibly, in that span of time, she could compose herself enough to talk to Mr. Darcy's cousin.

When Anne returned, she was carrying a candle, but Lizzy asked her to put it out. “I do not want any misunderstandings.”

At first Anne was confused by her response, but then she realized that Elizabeth was afraid that William would see the candle and interpret it as a sign that all was well.

“Do not worry about the candle,” Anne reassured her. “The arrangement William and I agreed upon was that a candle would be lit in a specific room on the south side of the house. A light in any other room would have no significance.”

Anne looked at Lizzy who was sitting in a chair with her legs pulled up underneath her and with her head resting on the arm of the chair. Because she had not bothered to undress, her frock was wrinkled from her having slept in it, and her hair had broken free of its ties and was an uncombed mess.

“Would you like for me to send for some tea?” Anne asked.

“No. I do not want anything.” But then she sat up. “Actually, I do want something. I want to return to Longbourn as soon as possible. I will say nothing of what I have learned here, but I cannot remain at Pemberley.”

“I understand, and I will speak to Mr. Jackson immediately to make the arrangements.”

After several minutes of silence, Lizzy finally spoke. “He is out there right now, isn't he?”

“Yes, he will be gone tonight and tomorrow night. But as soon as the sun rises the day after tomorrow, he will return to human form, and it will be as if nothing had happened.”

“As if nothing happened? How is that possible?”

“Because he was bitten fourteen years ago, nearly half of his lifetime. He is quite used to it.”

“But to be all alone, roaming the countryside.”

“Oh, but he is not alone. He runs with a she wolf from a nearby estate.”

“What?” It was hard to believe that such a thing as a werewolf existed. Now, she was being told that there were at least two in England, and one of them was a female. Lizzy felt something stir within her. Mr. Darcy was out there loping through the countryside with another woman. No that wasn't right. Another she wolf.

Anne explained that William and the neighbor were far from being the only persons living in the country who had been bitten by a werewolf.

“It is ironic that it happens almost exclusively to people from the higher echelons of society or their servants because they are the ones who have the money to travel and who can hire private carriages. People who travel by coach are much safer because a wolf will not go near so large a party. But if a carriage breaks down in the woods with only a few passengers, then a wolf might be bold enough to go near it, or in William's case, not even be aware that he was there. That is what happened to Nell as well.”

“And who is Nell?”

“I would rather not use her real name without her permission, but she is the daughter of a peer who lives on a nearby estate. Her family was traveling in Ireland when their carriage broke down. Nell told me that she went into the woods to relieve herself and was bitten on the leg. The werewolf remained nearby until someone responded to her calls for help, which, of course, was very dangerous for her to do. If she had been caught, she would have been…”

“Please, do not say it. I couldn't bear to think that something might…”

“Yes, I understand your feelings, but William is quite safe here. While Nell and he are transformed, they remain on the Pemberley estate where there is plenty of food for them to eat, and both are expert hunters.”

“Of course, he hunts. That explains why he knows so much about all of the animals hereabouts. He said it was a matter of survival.”

“He was referring to werewolves in general, and for some, it truly is a matter of survival. When a wolf is hungry, he is more inclined to take risks and to come out into the open, but William and Nell do not have such concerns.”

“I am happy to hear that he is not alone. How old is Nell?”

“I believe she is just shy of her twenty-first birthday.”

“But if Nell is of a marriageable age, why does Mr. Darcy not marry her? He would be marrying one of his own kind.”

Anne was careful in formulating a response. She did not want to say anything that would further distress Elizabeth, but Miss Bennet was in need of correction.

“In order for William to marry ‘one of his own kind,' as you put it, he would need to marry a human as he was born a human and that is the form he takes for all but two days in every month.”

Lizzy could see that her question had stung, but was it possible to be both human and animal?

“What I meant to say was that if he married Nell there would be no misunderstandings. Both would come to the marriage knowing each other's altered state, and his chances of being happy would be much greater.”

“That is true that there would be no secrets between them. But there is a problem. William is not in love with Nell; he is in love with you.”

Lizzy fell back into the chair. She felt as if someone had reached into her chest and pulled out her heart. Yes, Mr. Darcy was in love with her, and she was in love with him. She had come to Pemberley with such high hopes, only to find that her handsome gentleman turned into a furry Mr. Darcy with every full moon.

At that moment, there was a mournful howling very close to the manor house, and Anne looked alarmed.

“William is nearby. I do not understand. He never comes this close to the house. It is not wise.” Anne went to the window, but before she could unlatch the door leading to the balcony, Georgiana came running into the room.

“Anne, did you hear Will calling? He is too close. A servant or one of the grooms might see him.”

“Yes, dear, I know. But William has a cool head on his shoulders, and he will soon depart.” But no sooner had that statement been uttered than another heartbreaking howl was heard.

“Oh, God, Anne. He knows. That is why he is nearby.” Georgiana fell to the floor in a heap, her body wracked with great heaving sobs, and then she looked up at Lizzy, her face a picture of the anguish she was feeling for her brother. “He knows that there will be no candle in the window, and he cries out in his grief.”