Forever Young The Beginning (30 page)

“
What is it Alandra? What is
it?”

Alandra couldn’t answer but just
continued to sob uncontrollably, leaning on Celita. The gut
wrenching sounds seemed to be wrung from her very soul. Celita had
never seen or heard such grief.

“
Ian….. Ian is alive Celita.
He….. has….. has…. m…. married, Celita. Ian has married
someone.”

There were only the sounds of the sea
washing against the breakfront, the seagulls calling, the hubbub of
the market place and the sound of a girl, sobbing on a bench by the
seaside.

***

Ian spoke then “Come outside Celeste.
I’ll show you something.’ They all went outside to the iron grating
and stood upon it. Celeste looked up and took both Ian’s and
Cosette’s hands. She stood still for only a few seconds, and then
she said “He came from there.” as she pointed off to the east
towards a distant wooded hill. Marie said “Let’s go to the
maintenance building over there and change our clothes.”

Within a quarter of an hour, the five
emerged wearing dark clothing. The women wore pants All had sashes
rigged for pistols, but all weapons were in a large bag that Ian
carried. They got into the coach and directed the driver to drive
back to the base of the distant hill.

Once there, Henri instructed the
driver to wait until they came back. Ian put Celeste on his back
and started into the woods winding his way up the hill. The others
followed. They walked a mile back into the woods. It was a steady
but gentle climb. Ian let Celeste direct him and she corrected him
a bit from time to time. They finally encountered a dirt road and
followed it until they saw a large wooden house. It was a badly
neglected place, and was boarded up really well with large timbers.
They backtracked to a large thicket and Ian put Celeste down. They
all looked at her.

“
The Bad Men are inside.
There are nine of them. Another man is with them, but he isn’t like
them.”

“
Very good, Celeste, I’ll
take you back now to the carriage. You’re to go to Caryn’s and say
nothing of this. We know what to do.”

“
The girls are gone,
Ian.”

“
You’re sure?”

“
Yes. They left three nights
ago when Bridgett was brought. She was the last one they
needed.”

“
How many did they
have?”

“
Five.”

“
Do you know where they
went?”

She pointed to the east.

“
Thank you, Celeste. I’ll
take you back now.”

“
They weren’t like the Bad
Men that took me, Ian.”

“
What does that
mean?”

“
They were like the driver
of our coach, not like the Bad Men in this house. Not as strong or
fast. They were in a dark blue coach with four horses. There were
only two of them.”

He kissed her forehead saying “Thank
you Celeste.”

Removing his boots and socks he stood,
swinging her to his back. “Now Celeste, you hang on real tight, and
keep your legs around my middle. Ready?”

“
Yes.”

He leapt away and gave her a moment to
adjust to the speed he was building to. She was aware of trees
going past her in a blur and the wind a roar in her ears. Her eyes
began to shed tears from the wind velocity. Ian kept two hands on
top of hers for safety. She laughed in his ear “Oh Ian, this is so
fun. This is something you and Cosette do isn’t it?”

“
Yes, little one. We run a
lot like this.” He leaped high over a creek that was down in
between two high banks and smoothly landed. They came in sight of
the carriage and Ian slowed down to a human trot and took her to
the door. It was barely a minute since they had left the
others.

“
Take her to Caryn
Rochelle’s place and do walk her in. Do you understand?

“
Oh yes, monsieur. I know
Miss Rochelle very well. I am her preferred driver.”

Celeste nodded and Ian said “We won’t
see you very soon.”

“
You go to find the girls,
as you went to find us.”

“
Yes.”

She threw her arms around his neck and
kissed both of his cheeks several times, saying “that is for
Cosette, Marie, Henri, and Li too.”

Ian laughed and said “I’ll give them
to Marie and to Cosette, but I won’t be kissing Li or
Henri!”

She giggled and got into the coach,
waving out the window and smiling. He watched it depart then
returned to the woods. In barely a minute he had rejoined the
others.

It had been decided to breach the
place by way of the windows on the second floor. Li and Henri had
already circled the place from way back in the trees, looking for a
way in. The place was securely boarded up and sealed. Somebody
didn’t want anyone coming into that house from the ground level.
The front porch roof and the two windows above it had to be the way
in.

Ian spoke then. “These
aren’t likely to be
Adepts
. Look at how dark they keep the
place.” A short discussion ensued and it was decided that even if
one got past them, they could easily get him in daylight as he was
not likely to be an Adept.

They all looked to Ian. “Check your
pistols now. We all go in with a saber in one hand and a pistol in
the other.” As he spoke, he went from one to the other checking
their weapons. “When you fire the first one, just drop it and
transfer the saber to your right hand if you’re going to need it.
If not, remember to cock the second pistol as you pull it out of
your sash. And as much as I hate it, we must cock our pistols
before we climb inside. They might hear us otherwise. We don’t know
where they are in there. Now be ready and keep your wits about you.
Remember that we need to keep one alive for questioning. Are we all
ready?”

Everyone nodded and Ian met each ones’
eyes and nodded back. After embracing both Cosette and Marie he
nodded curtly to Henri and Li and streaked for the house. Landing
on the roof as light as a cat, he tried the right hand window and
it slid up noiselessly. He heard the others behind him and cocked
his pistol. Seeming to flow through the window he looked around
quickly and advanced in a crouch, watching the door of the room he
had entered. In seconds the other four were with him. He looked at
each one and they all nodded to him. Moving stealthily towards the
door he very slowly eased it open and peered through. The place was
dark, but his eyes had adjusted already. He held his finger to his
lips and eased through the doorway into a long hallway that went to
an open staircase.

They silently checked and cleared each
room. He crossed the staircase and saw nothing down there. Ian
regarded the staircase, being afraid it would creak as they
descended it. It had a large heavy balustrade of oak. He whispered
to everyone to un-cock their pistols and to secure them really
tight in their sash. Smoothly he hopped up on the balustrade and
stooping, he did a handstand and walked on his hands down the
handrail. It was solid and never let out a sound. He easily let
himself down at the landing and drew his weapons. Slowly in a
crouch he moved away from the staircase toward the nearest door.
There he paused to wait on the others.

Each one of the others did as Ian did
and descended the handrail, walking on their hands without making a
sound. They were all on the main floor now and they followed Ian in
a crouch as he glided silently from room to room. There was no one
in any rooms. He beckoned them closer and whispered “Unless Celeste
is wrong, they’re in the cellar. We might kill them all. They’ll
have to get past us to get out. Everyone cock their pistols now
before we open that door. Ready now?”

Everyone nodded and Ian glided to the
door leading to the cellar, under the main staircase. He eased it
open as slowly as he could.

They were all assailed by the smell of
blood, seeing some light and hearing voices. He gestured to Li to
come behind him and nodding to everyone, he started to creep down
the steps, hoping not to step on one that was creaky. He neared the
bottom and then a step creaked slightly. Everyone froze in place.
The voices continued talking and Ian could hear them now quite
well. He held up his hand and made a fist. Everyone froze,
listening.

“
So who did Pelleau say was
paying for those girls?”

“
He was pretty tight-lipped
about it. He did say it was some rich bastard in Lyon who owned
nearly half of that place.”

“
Sounds like Marcel
Francoise. Rich family and I hear they like strange
diversions.”

“
Their gold is as good as
any other mans’.”

Ian beckoned them forward again as he
glided down to the last steps. He silently glided around the corner
and stopped briefly when he saw why they were all down in the
cellar. A corpse hung upside down from a beam overhead. It was
directly over the center of the table. His throat had been cut and
he was bleeding into a cup held by one of the vampires. The others
had cups in front of them and waited their turn. Then Ian heard a
gurgling sound and a cold chill ran down his spine as he realized
that the man was still alive. They were bleeding him alive so that
his heart would speed up the grisly work of pumping his life’s
blood out to be consumed by the nine.

He glided silently toward the knot of
vampires sitting around the large table that were waiting for their
turn to drink even as he saw the eyes of the victim roll his way
and widen just a bit. The poor man saw him and fastened his eyes on
Ian’s. He had nearly reached the table when one saw him and shot up
out of his seat. Ian’s pistol thundered as a hole appeared right
between his eyes. Li had moved to be beside him as they had
silently glided the last thirty feet toward the table, firing at
the next one shooting him through the throat. The other seven
exploded from their chairs in a blur of motion. Ian took off the
next one’s arm below the elbow. He ran him through and hacked the
next one across the neck nearly cleaving his left shoulder from his
body. They were screaming with rage.

Ian felt the thrill of combat surge
through him as he moved to the next one who was retreating with a
drawn knife. All the others had drawn their knives. Li was hacking
down the next one when Henri appeared between Ian and Li and shot
one through the head. By then Ian had leaped the table to pursue
one and had caught him trying to circle back to the stairs. Taking
a cut across his chest, nonetheless he cut him down nearly shearing
a leg off at the knee and following that by cutting off his arm as
he tried to lunge back towards Ian with his knife. He roared in
pain as Ian hacked off his other arm and turned to leap back across
the basement into the thick of it.

Li had hacked another one down with
excellent swordplay and had cut his arm off. Marie shot one through
the throat and then dropped her pistol and using two hands she cut
his head off with her saber. Cosette shot one in the chest and Li
took him from behind and twisted his head half off, breaking his
neck. Cosette then leaped across that body to kick another one in
the face who had regained his feet and found his knife. She leaped
on his chest, taking a stab wound in her side. Jamming her pistol
into his mouth as he roared, she blew the back of his head off. On
her feet in a blur of motion she fluidly drew her saber and using
both hands, cut off the vampire’s head, kicking it into a corner.
She spun to assist Marie who had one backed into a corner and the
two proceeded to hack him to pieces, Marie at last lopping off his
head.

Ian pivoted in time to see Henri fire
his second pistol point blank into the chest of one. He then drove
a knee into his mid-section and followed up with a sword thrust to
the throat. Li had hacked off another arm of one still fighting and
Cosette leaped on his back and slit his throat with such force that
his head nearly fell off. He flopped about on the floor, gurgling
as he tried to scream, his head flopping about held to his body
only by the bones of his neck.

There were only four on their feet
now. Ian and Li moved in on them and Ian pulled his second pistol,
shooting his target through the head. He then chose another one,
following with a devastating sword attack in which his blade was a
blur, slashing his target to shreds, ending with him lopping off
the head of that one.

Li likewise was all over his target
who tried to defend himself with a knife in vain as Li cut his hand
off at the wrist. Cosette was plunging her knife into one so fast
that her arm was a blur as her target screamed and threshed
violently. Ian leaped towards him sweeping his feet from one side.
As he hit the floor, Ian drove his foot down on the vampire’s
throat so hard that he crushed his windpipe, choking off his
screaming. Swiftly he decapitated that one.

Marie was hacking one mercilessly, her
blade also a blur. Henri shot that one point blank in the head with
a pistol he pulled from Marie’s sash. The gunpowder smoke hung in
the air so thickly that it was hard to see, but none of the nine
had made it up the stairs. Five of them lay bleeding, gurgling and
moaning, even as some of their wounds began to close.

Ian shouted “Anyone hurt?” and got no
answer so he said “Henri, can you find one that can talk and pin
him with your sabers? Cut off a foot if you want to.” Ian went to
the table to see if the victim was still alive. He was
dead.