Forever Young The Beginning (26 page)

That LeBlanc had enlisted
the aid of a vampire or vampires was certain if the four girls
taken from
Angels’ Care
were the ones to be delivered. That window high up
on the very dormer where the girls slept was evidence enough of
that. Nothing else would fit the act of abduction from that place.
Earlier he had bluffed his way in by pretending to be an inspector
from the government checking on the security since there had been
two reports of girls missing from the place. The very idea of the
government truly caring about security in an orphanage was
laughable. He had seen then that the layout of the place precluded
any possibility other than that window. It was the work of one or
more vampires, no doubt.

He wondered if Marcel
Francoise was aware of this or not. If so, that was a serious
matter. He knew that Henri and Marie Lafayette were vampires and
that Henri was one of the nine judges of the
Supreme Council
. After all, he,
Moreau, was an Inquisitor. It would never do for an Inquisitor to
be found to be doing investigative work for humans. He shuddered to
think of the consequences of that and pondered whether to tell
Francoise what he knew and walk away from it. Or should he find out
more if possible? He weighed the possibility of earning a much
higher fee as opposed to the risk. That was a dilemma, but he was
Inquisitor wasn’t he? He was qualified to not only discover things
that others couldn’t, but to know who would pay handsomely for that
information as well, and he was again pleased at his own
cleverness.

***

Henri and Marie sat with Cosette and
Ian in the parlor late that night. Henri spoke saying “Let me begin
by saying that what I say here doesn’t leave this room without my
express permission. Are we agreed upon that?”

Cosette and Ian nodded, saying
“Yes.”

“
Very well, I’m a member of
an assembly of vampires. We’re called the
High Council
or the
Supreme Council
. We meet
periodically to review happenings throughout Europe involving
vampires. Our goal is to ensure that our existence never becomes
widely known or accepted. To that end, we investigate incidents
that we suspect have been the result of vampire activity. These
incidents would include the murder of humans and incidents where
vampires are working in league with certain factions of humans for
their personal interests. There are nine of us and we meet in
Liechtenstein. I was just attending a meeting there and we did
review some happenings in Eastern Europe. We review these reports
when we meet and decide what to do to maintain the secrecy of our
existence.”

“
How do you investigate one
of these events then?”

“
We send an Inquisitor to
investigate and rely on his report. In more egregious cases, we
send more than one Inquisitor to uncover all facts. Once we
determine the damage and how best to contain it, we then determine
the punishment to be meted out to the offender. Death is commonly
voted for in these cases.”

“
This incident involving
LeClerc and LeBlanc is a serious matter to us. I’ll submit my
report to my colleagues at our next meeting, and in it I will
conclude that the matter has successfully been concealed from
humans, and that it did involve a human-vampire conspiracy that
could have had serious consequences had it become publicized. There
were two reports made to the King’s Gendarmes. Involvement of human
governments in vampire transgressions is a serious thing in our
view. Have you any questions?”

“
Yes. Do your colleagues
share your views towards humans?”

“
Yes and no. Some believe as
Marie and I do and commonly interact with humans who don’t know
that we’re vampires. Others mostly shun human contact but don’t
feed on humans either. However, all members of the
Council
are committed to
keeping our existence secret. We all know that a war without end
would start if humanity learned of us.”

“
Then the
Supreme Council
maintains
a ……. stability of sorts?”

“
Yes Cosette. In past
centuries more humans believed in our existence. As time went on
after the renaissance period; and civilizations spread and
interconnected via treaties, embassies, commerce, and trade, we saw
that measures needed to be taken to suppress knowledge of our kind.
We have been careful, but have…… planted if you will…. opinions or
attitudes that ridicule belief in our existence. We….. nourish, if
you will, that belief in various ways. We have created common or
maybe conventional wisdom that vampirism is a myth, a superstition
indulged in by those who are….. who have shortcomings in their
mental development.”

“
In other words, people who
believe in the existence of vampires are ridiculed and thought to
be imbeciles by the vast majority of humanity, all by
design?”

“
Yes. We nourish and
encourage the idea that vampirism doesn’t exist but in the
imagination of those who are weak-minded, or is similar to the
fears that children have of imaginary beings.”

It was silent for a while in the
parlor where the four sat. Ian spoke at last, saying “I’m in
agreement with this idea. I suspect you are too.”

Cosette looked at Ian and nodded her
head “Yes. It prevents what could be massive bloodshed of humans,
were enough vampires to feel threatened. It’s a good thing in my
view.”

“
Good then. Have you any
other questions?”

“
Yes. Exactly how is your
sentence carried out?”

“
The Inquisitor makes his
report to us, and we vote on it. Then the Inquisitor takes as many
Enforcers as is deemed to be needed to carry out the sentence. We
all pool our efforts then to marginalize the damages…. the
publicity. We use coercion if possible with government officials if
they are involved or have knowledge. We do the same for any local
newspaper that might be publicizing anything connected with an
incident which we’re investigating. Bribery is common and quite
effective in nearly all cases.”

“
You said ‘Enforcers’ were
sent?”

Yes.”

“
Who are they?”

“
We employ vampires known to
be reliable to help carry out a sentence.”

“
Reliable?”

“
Yes; responsible ones, such
as you and Li, Ian. You, Li, Cosette, Marie, and I all acted as
both Inquisitors and Enforcers in a classic case of transgression,
which certainly would have merited a sentence of death for all
offenders.”

Cosette said “But we didn’t get all
offenders.”

“
No, but I’ll bring this
case to the attention of the full assembly next time we meet. A
solution will be sought, and the transgression has made enough
impact with the involvement of the King’s Gendarmes to justify the
harshest sentence for both any participating vampires and possibly
for humans who are involved as well.”

“
Will the
Council
be angered
because we proceeded without their full approval?”

“
No. They’ll be relieved
that the situation was…… contained if you will, with such little
damage outside of notification of the King’s Gendarmes. And don’t
forget that I oversaw the entire thing and am myself a member of
the
Council
.”

“
Little damage? Those five
girls were scared to death, and could yet talk.”

“
This is a problem within my
area Cosette, and I’m responsible to monitor it. Marie has done
well in her instruction of the girls. They’re afraid to talk now.
In the future, they’ll be older, but may be controlled through
becoming preferred employees in one of our many business ventures.
There are other means as well. Death is the very last sentence I
would ever want to impose on any human.”

“
One of those girls could be
killed because of what they saw?”

“
Well, yes, but only if they
insisted on publicizing their experience and what they saw. This
would be a last resort, but if necessary, I would reluctantly do it
myself if all else failed. I’ve never had to resort to such a thing
though. There are always other ways to ensure silence. Reward is
the best method by far. I can tell you for a fact though that there
have been cases where young humans, even children have been killed
for fear of them talking. It has happened.”

“
I’m concerned that
the
Council
might
find out about the abilities of Celeste.” said Ian, and Cosette
nodded her agreement.

“
Agreed. We must safeguard
that she has that ability at all costs. If they knew of her
abilities a majority of the
Council
might want for her to be brought over, to become
an asset. She could be invaluable to us in that venue.”

Ian said “By Heaven that is an
abomination! She’s a child. I won’t stand for it!”

“
I agree. We must keep her
abilities secret so that’s never a threat. We’ll rely on you two to
convince her of that while you’re traveling with her.”

Cosette and Ian looked at each other,
both nodding their mutual assent. Ian said “She’s a bright girl,
brilliant really. I just know that she can be relied on the same as
if she was an adult, if not more so. We’ll convince
her.”

“
And if she’s already sensed
a difference in us from humans?”

Cosette said “That won’t matter. Her
love of all of us is more than enough to ensure her silence on the
subject. She is wise beyond her years, and loyal to a
fault.”

“
Then that’s the end of this
part of our discussion. That is unless you have further
questions?”

They both shook their
heads.

“
Then I need to go over
these bank documents and that proposal for a partnership in the
Netherlands with you two now.” He proceeded to fill both of them in
on details and terminology that was needed for the transactions to
be made. Much of it was a review for Ian. After that, they stood
and hugged each other, and both Cosette and Ian kissed Marie good
night.

Newly-appointed Chief
inspector Claude Rousseau finished a very long day. He had reviewed
every single case in Marseille that was unsolved in order to see if
there were any leads that were overlooked. Having found four cases
that merited being re-opened he would do that tomorrow. He had let
his replacement go for the day several hours ago. It had been dark
outside for a while now. Walking around his new office he viewed
everything with a critical eye. Satisfied, he sat down in his large
leather chair and put his feet up on his desk, thinking of how he
had unexpectedly been recruited
. The
Laforges were right. Here I am; chief inspector of Marseille and I
may not have made it to this place for a decade if then. I wonder
where my former supervisor has been sent. He didn’t even say. He
seemed uncertain, but said it was in Paris, and that it was not
open for debate. My star is rising and it is tied to the Laforges.
I have no doubt about them after this and how fast it has happened.
We can move out of that cramped apartment and get a house of our
own now. I’ll start looking tomorrow and surprise Louise. We’ve
wanted to have more children. Now that is not only a blessing, but
it will be affordable too. I’ve been blessed it seems. Life is
good.

***

Their farewells said, Cosette, Ian,
and Celeste departed in the sumptuous carriage. Ian resolved to
make the best use of the time by teaching Celeste to speak English.
She was happy and excited to see the sights move past. It was only
her fourth ride in a carriage in her life.

Cosette noticed that Celeste was
sounding a bit like a Scot now when she used English, but she
thought it was quite endearing. The time passed pleasantly and
before they knew it they were stopping for the night near
Avignon.

The next two days were pretty much the
same, and were uneventful. The fourth day they got off to a really
early start and had gone miles before the sun even came up. Ian
hoped to make Lyon in two more days. The driver assured him that
there were three decent inns on their side of Lyon and that they
could make them since they had started so early. Celeste again got
to drive and again the driver got to take a nap. He had by now
concluded that this was the most pleasant trip he had ever taken
anywhere, even though it was going to be a long one. They continued
until dusk and still no inn had been sighted. The driver was sure
that they were not all that far. He was letting the horses go
slower now with it being late. They had given them an hour to rest
at a creek and had taken them out of their harnesses for that
time.

Ian had decided to take over the
driving since he could see perfectly well in the dim light. Before
he could act on that, Celeste awoke and said “Bad men are waiting
for us.” Cosette looked at Ian and then said “Where,
Celeste?”

“
Very near right now.
They’re just ahead of us.”

***

Celita and Alandra strolled through
the marketplace in Barcelona. This one was a favorite of theirs,
being on the waterfront, looking out at the harbor. Seagulls
swooped and flew about, hoping to snag a scrap of food. It was a
typical beautiful Mediterranean evening in a beautiful part of the
world. The girls strolled aimlessly, talking about nothing in
particular and just anything in general, as young girls will often
do.