All Hallow's Eve (8 page)

“
How long do we have, Darcy?
”

“
The man who can identify Miss Elizabeth will be here in a fortnight, sir.
”

Mr. Bennet returned to his chair heavily.
With a sigh he said,
“
I will
require
the remainder of the
day to gather the correct equipment from the armo
u
ry located beneath Longbourn.
We will begin training tomorrow at dawn.
How soon can your cousins
arrive
?
”

“
I will send an express directly,
sir
, if you will lend me the proper supplies.
I was to
ld to request the S
word from Pemberley as well
—
m
y
S
word.
”

“
So, apparently your father was the Keeper?
”

William
nod
ded
,
“I have only just
last night
discovered it, sir.”

After discussing some particulars about the training,
Mr. Bennet
retreated t
o the window to give
William
some privacy as he wrote his letters.

When
William
’s task was complete, he joined Mr. Bennet at the window.
Without redirecting his gaze
,
Mr.
Bennet
began
,
“
There are several subjects we must discuss.
I do not know to what degree you are aware
of
Elizabeth’s feelings for you, but I must warn you that up until this time
,
she did not
hold
a very
favour
able opinion.
I want to make it perfectly clear that I will not force her to marry you if she does not wish it.
You must wait until she is ready, son
. Be warned
:
Elizabeth does not
alter
her opinion
s
without a great deal of effort to convince her
.
” Mr. Bennet turned towards him
.

W
illiam
surmised
that Elizabeth had learned the habit of raising one eyebrow from her father.

Mr. Bennet continued, “
It would be wise to
begin by
apologiz
ing
for stating that she was ‘tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt you.’
”
Mr. Bennet chuckled at
William
’s blush.

“
I have become painfully aware of
Miss Elizabeth’s less than ideal opinion of me
,
sir, though I had not an inkling of it before last night
.
I was told that since those in the Otherworld have become
conscious
of the
trouble coming our way
,
it was required
to make us aware that we are
Soul Mate
s
now instead of waiting for the natural outcome
.
It seems we both
will be stronger working together than we would be apart.
I, for one, did not need to know this information to improve my opinion of Miss Elizabeth
,
al
though perhaps that knowledge will help me feel a bit less tongue-tied in her presence.
”

Mr. Bennet nodded
and then
said,
“
Alt
hough Elizabeth is High
Priestess
of the
T
ribes
and you are
,
without a doubt
,
her
Soul Mate
if you were able to attend the
Sanun
without interrupting the ritual
,
Lizzy is still my little girl, Darcy.
I expect you to follow the modern rules of propriety
when
in the
public
to protect
all
my daugh
ters’ reputations
.

“
Another
point
of which you must become aware is that, though the servants at Longbourn know that we are of high rank in the
T
ribes, they do not know specifically what positions we hold.
They
do
know that I am an
Immun
, but not Lead
Immun
, and they
are aware that
my wife and daughter are
Fili
—but nothing else.
We do not doubt their
loyalty;
it is only that if
c
oerced
, they
can honestly answer that
they
do not have that information to divulge.
”

“
I understand, sir.
”
William
hesitated to speak further, but
his
curiosity got the better of him. “Mr. Bennet, my parents had little time to tell me all that I needed to know
;
therefore
,
I have been left with many questions. If you would be so kind
to explain to me
why most children are not told about the Tribes before they come of age?
As far as I know,
none of the
people
whos
e
families I now know to be a part of the Tribes
know that any of this exists.
”

Mr. Bennet
answered,
“I
n times
past
,
when
all within the Tribes
gathered together to celebrate
whil
st
the
Priestesses performed
their rituals
, the children were
instructed in the ancient culture
. A
ll
kn
e
w the identit
ies of the four Priestesses
, as well
.
But, fairly recently, t
here
were
several
occurrences
that
caused
th
e
s
e
traditions
to
end
.

“
As modern times
took
shape and travel
became
easier, the members of the Tribes spread out across the world. With each succeeding generation, more of the ancient traditions
were
lost, except among the descendants of the families of the highest order.

“And then, s
everal generations past, a great evil force quietly bec
a
me powerful in Europe.
These
Olcs
knew of our ancient rituals, and
wished to control
them. T
he
Priestesses at that time
understood
that
they
and their descendants
were in
great
danger
. T
he protection of the
ir
identities bec
a
me an absolute necessity.

“Now, even the Priestesses do not know who two of the others are, though I am told that if they happened to meet, they would recognize each other—probably similar to the way that my mother had recognized Elizabeth as the Destined One at
the
very moment she was born.
While each of the four
Priestesses are
taught the rituals of the others to ensure that the most important
of our
traditions w
ill
be passed down to the next generation should tragedy befall any one of them, it
is
possible only for the Destined One for each position to carry out the rites they were born to perform
.”

“You said that each Priestess would not know two of the others, sir. I understood there were four?”

“Yes,
but d
ue to the precautions, each Priestess and her closest relatives kn
o
w the identity of one other
Priestess
.
Should one of them die before passing on what she knew to an Apprentice, the other would be notified by the deceased’s closest family member.
The search would then commence within the family of the deceased for the Heiress to the title
. T
he Destined One would
eventually
be trained by the other Priestess
.
”

“Has a position ever remained
vacant
?”

Mr. Bennet
responded
,
“T
hroughout the history of the Tribes, only once ha
s
a Priestess position remained unfilled until another had been
born and
was
old
enough to take on the ritual. The
result
ing
years
devoid of
the rite having been performed prove
d
to be
disastrous, but nothing
could have
been
done to prevent it.
Accidents do happen, even to Priestesses.
” His countenance became grave. “We will
not
permit that to happen now
with the
Sanun
, Darcy.”

“We certainly will not, sir.”
William extended his hand
,
and Mr. Bennet shook it. William vowed, “Please know that I will not allow Miss Elizabeth to be harmed—I would sacrifice my life if necessary, sir.”

“As would I, my boy, as would I.”

~%~

Aft
er
receiv
ing
a report that Elizabeth was sleeping soundly,
William
bid the ladies goodbye
. E
ven
though
he was
exhausted
,
he declined the offer of the use of a horse for his return trip to Netherfield.
He
required
some time alone to think about all he had learned since
beginning his
walk
the night before
.

Noticing the position of the sun,
William
realized that his life had changed immeasurably in
fewer
than eighteen
hours.
When he had left his room last
night
,
his most pressing concern
had been
rooted in
the
anticipati
on of
British
society’s reaction
towards
Elizabeth
if he
should make her
an offer
since
her position was so far
beneath
his
own
.
Y
et
,
this morning
,
he found himself a member of a secret society and
Soul Mate
to the same woman, who in
this
society
actually
held the highest status possible, but
hid her true
position
.
He had been pulled into a completely different world
,
one that he
unknowingly
had been born into, and
one that coexisted
with that which
he ha
d
been brought up to
understand.

Which
“
world
”
was more important?
How d
id
the others balance their
dual
lives?
Did they pay more attention to one or the other?
He wished he had thought to ask his parents for advice when he could have.
He would have to depend on Elizabeth or Mr. Bennet for answers.