Work Text:
Dusk was settling across the land by the time Charles Phipps and Charles Grey rode into the quaint town, far out in the English countryside. They were there on orders from the Queen, strange disappearances had been happening, but anyone sent out to investigate had disappeared as well, so finally Queen Victoria ordered Double Charles on the case to put an end to things.
After travelling all day, Phipps and Grey had been looking forward to a rest and hot food, but as they rode through the town, not a person could be seen. It was odd, considering that time of day, the town should have still been filled with people going about their business.
"Where is everyone?" Grey complained. "Not everyone could have disappeared."
"They're hiding," Phipps deduced as he looked at the homes which were locked up tight with their doors shut and curtains covering their windows.
"It's still rude not to greet us," Grey grumbled. "We came all this way and no one will tell us why we're here."
"They can't help it if they're afraid," Phipps replied as he looked at Grey. It had been a few months since he had discovered Grey's secret; that she was a woman who pretended to be a man so that she could serve the Queen and inherit the title 'Earl' since the Grey family had no suitable heirs. During those few months, Phipps had tried to keep any awkwardness out of their friendship, but it was hard at times. Not only was it a shock finding out that his partner was female, but also the fact that Phipps couldn't help but feel attracted towards her.
"Cowards," Grey muttered.
"Not all of us," a voice spoke from behind them. As they spun around, Phipps and Grey drew their swords, ready for anything. What they found though, was a dashing man who looked out of place in the small town. He had black hair and was wearing expensive clothing that was partly hidden by a cape; he looked like he was ready for a night at the opera instead of a night in the countryside.
"Who are you?" Phipps asked both his and Grey's swords not wavering.
"My name is Maximilian," he replied, unfazed with the swords. "I meant no harm; I simply wanted to introduce myself to such a lovely creature."
He stared at Grey the entire time he talked, never taking his eyes off her. It was quite clear that 'lovely creature' he spoke of was her. The only problem was that he wasn't supposed to know that Grey was female.
"I think that you'll find that I'm not your type," Grey bitterly replied but Maximilian ignored her words as he walked closer, brushing her sword aside.
"Oh, I think you're my type indeed," he said as he raised a gloved hand and stroked her cheek.
Before Phipps could even react, Grey formed a fist with her right hand and punched Maximilian in the face. The punch didn't have the power that she would have liked since it wasn't with her dominate hand, but it did the trick since Maximilian staggered away from her, clutching his jaw.
As Grey stood, glaring at Maximilian, a thick fog suddenly surrounded them. Phipps nor Grey could see a thing, but it didn't matter as just as quickly as it arrived, the fog vanished. The only difference was that Maximilian was nowhere to be seen.
"I don't like this place," Grey declared as she took a drink of the cheap ale that she was drinking.
After the incident with Maximilian they had found an inn with a pub attached to it. Grey insisted on eating first and after she consumed multiple plates of food, they both agreed that they needed something to drink.
Phipps had to admit that the place was abnormal. Not including Maximilian, the only people they had seen was the weary innkeeper and his wife. Both had given Phipps and Grey and odd look, but silently served them anyway. When Phipps attempted to ask them about the town, they both refused to answer any questions.
They went to bed not long after that; separate rooms since there was no reason to share when there were no other customers. Grey would have liked to stay up drinking some more, but they had a job to complete, which meant no heavy drinking until the mission was done.
The next morning Phipps found Grey in her room, staring at her open window with a frown on her face. "Is there something wrong?" he asked.
"This window was shut when I went to bed last night," she replied.
"So?"
"It was open when I woke up."
That was alarming news; Phipps knew that Grey didn't sleepwalk; they had shared enough rooms in the past for him to know her sleeping habits quite well. He also knew that she wouldn't forget if she had opened it. The only possibility was that someone had entered from the outside and didn't close the window after leaving. But that was a ridiculous theory since they were on the second floor.
They headed downstairs, determined to get information from the innkeeper, but what they found instead was the innkeeper's wife sobbing into her hands.
"He's gone!" she wailed in between her sobs and after a quick investigation of a room in the back, Phipps and Grey knew what she meant. The innkeeper was sprawled on the ground, dead.
"Any signs on how he died?" Grey asked as Phipps looked over the body.
"No," he replied at first, but then he spotted it, two puncture wounds on the man's neck. He pointed out the wounds to Grey who was skeptical about it being the cause of death.
"Two small wounds like that will not kill an adult man," she argued.
"But, there are no other wounds."
"Then it was poison," Grey replied while shrugging her shoulders. The death of an innkeeper was not her concern; their mission was to look into the disappearances that were happening around town. As for the innkeeper, although it was a sad occasion for his wife, they knew exactly where he was.
"But who poisoned him?" Phipps pointed out and Grey had nothing to say about that. She wasn't dumb enough to accuse the innkeeper's wife; the woman was grieving too much to have killed him and there was no one else around that could have done it.
"We should investigate the town," Grey said, looking away.
Not wanting to argue, Phipps nodded his head and followed her back through the inn, passing the innkeeper's wife once more who was now being comforted by two other women.
Outside, the sky was grey and clouded but at least there were people out and about. There weren't as many people that they would have expected for a town of the size, but that had only made it even more obvious that something very strange was happening to the townspeople.
As the day wore on, Phipps and Grey made numerous attempts to talk to the townspeople but all were ignoring them. As soon as they would approach a person, the person would run off, pretending that he or she hadn't seen them. Finally Grey had enough and roughly grabbed the next person and threw up against the side of a building.
"You will talk to us whether you like it or not!" she ordered and the man helplessly nodded his head. "Tell us what is going on here. Why are people disappearing?"
"People don't just disappear," whispered the man so that no one could over hear them. "They die."
"We're here to stop that," Phipps replied. "Why is everyone ignoring us?"
"They don't want to be next," the man said, still whispering. His eyes darted around as if he suspected to find someone. "If he is happy, we don't die and there's nothing you can do to stop him. He's unstoppable."
"I want to meet him," Grey firmly replied. "Tell me how."
"I can't," begged the man. "Please don't make me!"
"Go," Phipps said and Grey reluctantly released the man.
Phipps and Grey exchanged a look as the man scurried off. It was obvious that there was something frightening not only the man but the rest of the town as well; and that something was connected to the disappearances that they were sent to investigate. They would have to get to the bottom of things before being allowed to return to London.
It was late during the night when Grey was awaken due to the cold breeze that entered through the open window; the open window that Grey had made sure was shut before she had gone to sleep. Sensing someone in the room, Grey grasped the dagger she had hidden under her pillow, all while pretending to still be asleep.
"You look so beautiful when you look like that," a voice whispered. It sounded like an attempt at seduction but all Grey felt was creepiness.
"I knew you were of the fairer gender," the voice continued to whisper, closer this time and Grey felt the weight of someone joining her on the bed behind her and she felt as someone reached around to touch her. "Come with me and you'll never have to hide again."
Grey had enough, moving as fast as she could, she took the dagger and jabbed it through the man's shoulder. In a swift motion, she rolled off the bed and grabbed her sword. In the dim lighting she could tell that it was Maximilian on the bed, but something was wrong. He seemed unfazed with the dagger and when he pulled it free, no blood flowed from the wound.
"Foolish girl!" he snarled. "I would have given you the world and a lifetime of immortality!"
"That's only if I served a creep like you," Grey shot back. "Understand this; it's not romantic to watch a woman sleep."
Maximilian moved in for an attack, but at that moment, Phipps barged into the room and threw something at Maximilian who first caught the object and then quickly dropped it before fleeing out the window. Both Grey and Phipps rushed over to the window, but it was too late, Maximilian had already disappeared into the night.
"How did you know something was going on?" Grey asked as she walked over to the object and nudged it with her foot. It was wooden cross but there seemed to be nothing special about it.
"I figured something would happen so I was awake and waiting," Phipps replied as he picked up the cross. "All signs were pointing to a vampire haunting this town."
"How do you know about vampires?"
Phipps shrugged. "I'm a butler; it's my job to know."
That explanation made sense to Grey. Phipps always prided himself on being prepared for any situation. She knew that he kept a large selection of books at his home and spent a lot of his free time reading. "So what do we do now?"
"Wait until daylight; then we go hunting."
Grey was happy to hear that news. She wanted revenge on Maximilian. No way was she going to allow him to get away with entering her room uninvited. She's make him pay for trying to turn her into a victim.
The next morning, Phipps and Grey once again went out into the town, this time to begin their search for Maximilian who was sleeping somewhere in the town. During the night, while they waited for daylight, Phipps had filled Grey in on vampires, telling her that they had to sleep during the day and about how they would be able to kill Maximilian.
"They still act like they're afraid even during the day," Grey observed as they passed by the townspeople who all kept their heads down as they went about their business.
"The day is probably most fearful for them since they have to go outside then," Phipps replied. "If they're out too late, they'll become the next victim. After dusk, they can stay inside where it's safe. A vampire can't enter a home uninvited."
"Then why was he able to enter my room?" Grey asked, still annoyed over that fact. "I never invited him in."
"An inn, by its sheer nature, is supposed to be welcoming," Phipps replied. "The innkeeper and his wife probably never realized this fact. It was just a matter of time before one or both of them died."
"So where do we find Maximilian?" Grey asked while she looked around. It was a gloomy day so they only had a limited about of time before it became dark once more. It wasn't uncommon for the weather to be bad late in October, but for some reason it seemed that there was more to it than that.
"Somewhere dark where he wouldn't be disturbed," Phipps replied, as he also looked around.
They walked around for a bit, finding nothing, until Phipps finally spotted it later in the day. It was a boarded up house near the edge of the town. At first they assumed it belonged to a homeowner who had been killed by Maximilian but then they realized that it would be the perfect hiding location for him.
"It would be better if the sun would shine," Grey muttered as they pulled the boards off the door. If the sun was out, they could simply drag his sleeping body outside and watch as it turned into dust, but they weren't that lucky. Instead they would have to go with another plan.
With the boards mostly off the door, they were able to pry it open far enough so that they could slip inside. It wasn't the ideal situation, but they didn't want to waste anymore time. The sooner they finished things, the sooner the town would be safe and they could go home.
Maximilian wasn't hard to find. Because of his cockiness he had set up his coffin in the middle of the parlour. It was almost as if he was inviting them in; confident that he could overpower any opponent.
"Are you ready?" Phipps quietly whispered as they approached the coffin.
In Grey's hand she held a wooden stake and a mallet. The plan was a simple one; while Phipps opened the coffin, Grey would pound the stake through his heart. Hopefully the act would kill him, because if it didn't they would have to retreat and come up with a new plan.
Grey nodded her head, indicating that she was ready and Phipps quickly yanked off the lid that wasn't sealed down in any way. Inside laid Maximilian, looking peaceful while he slept; like a perfect, dead, gentleman.
Steadying her hand, Grey wasted no time in delivering the first hit to the stake. Maximilian's eyes flew open in alarm as he felt the wood enter his body. As she hit the stake again, he half fell out of the coffin as he attempted to lunge at her, baring his fangs as he went after her neck.
Undaunted, Grey dropped the mallet and pulled free her sword. In a swift movement, she sliced at Maximilian's neck, beheading him. As his head rolled across the floor, he screamed curses at her. Grey however ignored it all as she accepted the mallet that Phipps had retrieved for her to hammer in the final blow.
Maximilian's body dropped to the ground as the wooden stake finally made contact with his heart; then everything was quiet.
"Why didn't you help me?" Grey eventually asked, all while still staring down at Maximilian's corpse. She hadn't needed Phipps' help but she was curious as to why he only stood by while she took care of things.
"I thought it was something that you needed to do," he simply replied and silence fell between them once again. Phipps was right, she did need it.
They stayed all night, watching Maximilian's body in case it rose again, but nothing happened. In the morning, the sun had finally begun to shine so they carried the body and the head outside to be done with the vampire known as Maximilian for once and for all.
As they rode away from town, the townspeople cheered in triumphant; their horrors were finally behind them and they could now begin to heal.