All Hallow's Eve (32 page)

As she took another step forward,
Elizabeth felt
an icy cold vibration
begin
in the pit of her stomach
. The sensation
spread throughout her body
, becoming stronger w
ith each stride
forward
.
The man with Lieutenant Denny turned toward her, and
a feeling of dread overtook her senses.
There was something terribly
wrong
about this stranger! Elizabeth
made a
desperate
effort to school her features
to hide her reaction from him,
alt
hough she knew it must be too late
.

T
he muscles of her betrothed’s arm tighten
ed
considerably
,
and he pulled her closer
.
Forcing herself to look away from th
is
man, s
he
turned her gaze upon
William
and his
concerned expression
.
“
What is it, Elizabeth?
”

“
Th
e man in the blue coat
,
”
she
said
quietly
.

“
That
is
Wickham
,
”
he
growled through clenched teeth
.
Elizabeth became
aware
that
William
had increased their pace
and was
determined
to inform Wickham with his actions that
her sisters
were not unprotected.
“
Remember, d
o not
stray from
my side, Elizabeth!
”

Mary quickened her steps,
coming up close to Elizabeth’s left side
.

Elizabeth
whispered
,
“
It was him
in the woods
.
W
hen
this man
looks at me
, the sensation is very strong
.
”

“
Yes;
I feel it
,
too
,
”
Mary
confirmed
.

William’s expression hardened
further
as he stared at the
villain
whom
he knew so well but understood not at all
.
“
That should not surprise me.
”

Chapter
9

As they approached Wickham,
William
took note of the
subtle
communication the gentlemen of
t
he
i
r party employed by their arrangement
and stance, laying
their
claims and attempting to send a warning that the ladies were under their protection.
He wondered if the
ladies
understood the
silent
language they displayed or if one must be male to recognize these messages
.

Lord Reginald and Richard took up position
s
o
n
either side of
Kitty and Lydia
as the two
girls
continued t
heir
banter with Denny
.
William directed
hi
s
approach so that
when they joined the group
,
his lady was partially protected behind Richard
.
He
angled his body so that he was a step
close
r
to
Wickham
than
s
he
, but
without having to disengage her hand from his arm
.
S
ens
ing
Jane and Bingley
join the group
, William was
t
hankful that the
y
were now fully attending
the situation
.
H
e watched out of the corner of his eye as
they
station
ed
themselves
to the rear of
their charge
so that
she
would be protected from
behind
, but in a way that their
view of Wickham
was not
obstructed
.

~

S
urrounde
d by eight members of her guard
, Elizabeth knew that she
should
feel a certain measure of security
,
but
she
did not.
O
nly
a few steps away
stood
the
very person
that the Otherworld had warned would
be
able to identify her. If he
accomplished his
goal
, this
moment
would
set in motion events that could end with
her loved ones
coming to great harm
—perhaps worse
.

The closer she had come to Wickham, t
he
more intense the
sensations emanating
from
him
had
bec
o
me
.
Now that William had
led her
to
a stop
only
a small distance
from him
,
the situation
was
almost unbearable
.
Although s
he was u
nsure
which would happen first, she was certain that
th
e
pulsating force
would crush
her
form and
the
biting
cold would
starve
the air from her lungs.
H
er
sense of hearing
faded
until
finally
she could hear
nothing
but a
deafening
buzzing sound
.

The wave
of
helpless
ness that
pressed down on
her was almost as overwhelming as the assault itself
.
That he could virtually disable her from a distance went against everything she had prepared for her entire life. No weapons she knew of could defend against an attack such as this.
Panic of an intensity that she had never before known began to take hold
,
and
Elizabeth felt her “self” slipping away.

Wh
en she
looked up
, the
amusement
in
Wickham’s
eyes
caused
t
h
e
familiar,
stubborn
side of her
nature
to rise
in response
.
T
h
is
Olc
will not have
t
he satisfaction of
bearing
witness
to
my
struggle
!

Straightening her spine, Elizabeth exerted a
great deal of concentration to maintain
a
calm
demeanor
.
G
lanc
ing
at
William
produced
a sense of
re
newed strength
and clarity of thought surg
ing
through her
.
William was the answer!
Two halves of the whole... t
ogether, they were stronger than apart.

After what seemed like an eternity
in this state of flux
,
it occurred to her that
should
she
ever come to be in Wickham’s presence whil
st
alone,
being
un
able to cope with
this
would be her
undoing
.
She must be able to function
,
even
under the influence of this crippling
sensation
!
Consequently,
Elizabeth became determined to find a way past th
ese
debilitating
forces
.

Maintaining her focus on William’s profile, she thought,
Wickham
will not
win this battle!

~

After recovering slightly from the
acute
revulsion at being in the presence of this scoundrel once again,
William realized that while Wickham
had spoken to those around him
, he had not spared more than a momentary glance to anyone other than Elizabeth
.
A
t
her
,
Wickham
continued to
openly stare
with a gleam in his eyes
so evil, it was unlike
any
William had ever
before
seen
.

William was not at all prepared for what he would find as he moved his gaze to his fiancée to gauge her reaction to this
crude
behaviour
.
Elizabeth’s
pallor alone would have been enough to alarm him, but
when she looked up at him,
his heart stopped beating
. H
er
eyes
!
The eyes
that
had always
been lit from within
by
her
unmatched wit, indomitable spirit
,
and sparkling
vigor
—they
were now dull.
.. d
ead!

R
eginald was right;
I
should have
never allowed her to expose herself in this way!

Somehow, he knew what he had to do.

~

Whether
it was
by coincidence or design
,
Elizabeth
could not know since she was
un
aware of what was happening around her,
but
she was grateful when
William
altered his stance by stepping forward, effectively shielding her from Wickham’s
glare
.
By doing so, the situation was transformed—
the vibration was
halved.
Elizabeth
drew
a deep breath
and
released it slowly
,
thanking
William
by squeezing his
arm with the
hand that
had been resting there
.

A
fter
taking
a few moments
to
gather her composure
,
she
e
xperi
enc
ed
a familiar tugging somewhere in her mind,
and
suddenly
recogniz
ed
Wickham’s
vibration as
similar to the
one she
had
felt
when an
evil soul
attempted
to gain access to the portal during the
Sanun
.
I
ntuition told her that the same technique used to block the
harmful ones
from passing through her
during the ritual
could be used
in this situation
.
Alt
hough the
words of the
S
ong
“
tuned
”
the sieve to allow the good souls through whil
st
blocking the evil, actually
raising
the sieve was a separate step.

W
ith relief
, she filled her lungs once again and
whispered
thanks to William and her grandmother
,
well
aware that the nudge
that had
point
ed
toward a
solution
was a message from th
at
lady.
Elizabeth knew that
William had heard her
and understood that she was well
when she saw a slight
easing of the
tension in
his shoulders
.

Once the sieve was in place,
the sensation
almost disappeared
.
T
he next step was to test he
r
theory,
and
she
applied pressure to
William’s arm to indicate
that
he should step to the right
.
H
e followed her direction
, though he communicated his reluctance to do so through his hesitation
.
The sensation increased as soon as Wickham’s eyes were upon her, but this time it was
limited to
a
tolerable
level.

Elizabeth
’s gaze
locked with
William
’s
,
and
she
smiled
to put him at ease
.
She could not know how much it meant to him that her
triumph
was reflected
in her eyes.