Viscounts and Vampires

Chapter Two

Eleanor's morning adventure did indeed draw the ire of her mother, who was more concerned that Eleanor had left the house unaccompanied than that she had nearly witnessed the deaths of three people. Although she did not scold, the look on her face told Eleanor that she was highly disappointed. The rest of the morning and early afternoon was a quiet affair, with Eleanor curled up on a drawing room couch with a book and her mother fixated on needle point. Robert was in and out on occasions, but he was spending the greater part of the day arranging for the arrival of his wife and son. Lady Rose had spent the last few months in the country caring for their three-year-old son while Robert made every possible arrangement for their comfort in town.

"Do you think the crib should face toward the window or away?" he asked on the latest visit. Olivia did not look up from her needlepoint as she answered, "Away." Robert seemed to consider this for a moment before nodding and striding out.

"I've never seen Robert so emotional about anything," Eleanor commented as she watched him go.

"You should have seen him when Henry was born," Olivia told her. "I've never seen a man act that way. He insisted on staying with her, in the room right there with her! He refused to be kept out."

"He must love her very much."

Eleanor met her mother's eyes as she looked up from the rose she was stitching. "Family means a lot to Robert. I think he would rather we all stay home on the estate all the time instead of coming back and forth to town."

Eleanor felt a sneaking guilt. "You're all here in town for me," she said.

"Don't be ridiculous. Robert is here to fulfill his duty as Viscount. He's had to officially take over your father's place at home and in court, so he's bound to make the trip in to make appearances. Once the season is over, we can all go home and he'll be happier than before he left."

Eleanor sighed. "I don't know if I can be..."

Olivia tossed the embroidery ring aside. "Of course you can, Ellie. You'll be perfectly fine. This time next year you'll be married and managing your own estate and that will keep you too busy to think about anything else."

Eleanor opened her book and began to read again, but she felt her mother's eyes on her, as if she were waiting for affirmation. A page later, Olivia signed and went back to her stitching.

"I know you're hurting still," she said quietly a moment later. "But you have a chance to make a real life now, to be safe."

Eleanor nodded. "I know. It's just...hard. I'm so used to watching my back all the time, I can't believe that it's safe to relax."

"I know." There was a pause, then, "Robert told me about the newspaper."

Eleanor's fist clenched. "Of course he did."

"Don't blame him. He's worried about me. He knows that the harder it is on you to settle in here, the harder it will be on me."

"I'm not trying to make it hard. I just find it suspicious that the throat was cut."

"Ellie, do you have any idea how many bodies they pull out of the Thames? And how many of those have their throats cuts? This is London. There hasn't been a vampire nest here in over thirty years but there are a lot of murders. Please, just...turn off the hunter mode. You're safe."

"I know... Mother, you don't know what it was like there! You don't know how hard it is to just forget. When we were still home, you saw the training we did. I thought I was ready, because I had spent years learning their history, the best ways to kill them, everything. But in India...it was real. The weapons training with blessed blades, the nighttime patrols, the way their eyes start to glow when they try to put you in their thrall..."