Forever Young The Beginning (35 page)

Henri said “I’d better question these
men.”

“
One might know you,
Henri

“
It doesn’t matter if they
know me or not. They’ll never leave this place alive.”

***

Dawn broke to a drizzling rainy day.
The six had been questioned and then killed quickly. They were
friends and associates of Francoise, and they really didn’t know
where he might have gone. They said that he had hired the seventeen
vampires for security. There were five Adepts among them and
Francoise had been here with them as their host. They were
Satanists and were going to use the girls for a satanic ritual. At
least two of their ilk had not been able to make it to this
occasion, being as one was entertaining relatives of his wife and
one lived abroad.

Their remains were all concealed in
the deep woods two miles from the road and about that distance from
the remains of the Chateau. Nothing that could identify any of them
was left behind, and the rainfall had obliterated any scent
remaining on the grounds which eliminated any chance of tracking
those who had escaped.

Henri and Li had helped move Ian
deeper into the woods, away from the chateau. Marie had dressed in
clothes taken from the servant’s quarters. Most of those were
standing around watching the fire so that was easy to do. They had
also taken the clothing from the dead men and there was enough for
all three of them to each have a change of clothing however badly
the clothes fit.

Marie had taken the four children
towards Lyon, and she had left them at a church and had returned by
around ten o’clock in the morning. Concealing the carriage in
another place she had unhitched the horses and tethered them with
the others to graze and drink from a creek.

Ian had regrown around half of his
hair by evening, and the red blistered skin was back to normal. The
black charred skin was a mottled pink, white, and tan color and he
wasn’t in pain any more. The three kept bringing him fresh blood
and he kept taking it. They decided to depart the next day, and had
determined to take the bigger coach and the four-horse team. Since
it was originally headed towards the border, it was decided that it
would be less likely to be identified if traveling the other way
where it may have never been seen before. This fire was big news by
now and everyone in that area was talking about it.

***

The next morning, Henri saw several
carriages drive up and stop near the smoldering ruins. Several men
got out and were looking at the scene. Running at vampire speed to
the woods behind the servant’s and laborers houses he then just
walked out from the direction of the laborers quarters after
stealing a broad-brimmed straw hat, and came around a corner among
the crowd. He circulated around to hear what he could hear, and no
one noticed him. Speculation was that all were drunk since no one
could find Francoise. They thought he had died in the fire and
maybe his guests too. No one had thought to look for carriages
yet.

The two drivers were nowhere to be
found. They had been told not to return at peril of their lives and
they had taken that to heart, not knowing how their coach had been
boarded so easily at night while traveling at their fastest
possible speed. Henri thought that they were fearful and would
remain silent. He recognized the Mayor of Lyon who said nothing,
but just looked at the ruins. Then he told someone to gather all of
the servants to be questioned.

While circulating among the staff,
Henri overheard a young couple talking about losing several
chickens somehow overnight after the chateau had burned down.
Thinking the timing of that was odd, Henri wondered if the vampires
who had escaped the fire had taken the chickens for nourishment
before departing, or maybe later. He slipped away unnoticed and
entered the woods behind the place.

In minutes he had rejoined the others
and made his report. Ian was nearly healed now, with just some pink
looking skin still on his ears and nose. Marie thought that he
would be back to his normal appearance the next day. They discussed
the missing chickens and decided that the vampires who had escaped
with injuries had likely taken them. “Too bad we didn’t guess that
they would try that.” said Li. “I’d love to have another go with
the ones who got away.”

They then discussed whether to return
to Paris or go back to the chateau. The subject of Francoise came
up and Ian then spoke, having up to that time remained
silent.

“
I want Francoise for myself
so I’ll go to the mayors’ house. If he’s there, I’ll try to take
him and if I can’t, I’ll kill him. If the mayor is his confederate
in this matter, I’ll kill him as well.”

Henri said “His death can be made to
look like an accident and Francoise can just vanish. No one at the
ruins knew his whereabouts except possibly the mayor. He is suspect
in my view. We’ll help you in this matter Ian. We want that bastard
dead too. Hell can have him and anyone who had any dealings with
this abomination.”

Ian sat silent, head bowed.

Marie spoke then saying “Then we go to
Paris. There is the matter of Pelleau to take care of. We can’t
leave that serpent alive knowing what he’s done and will do again.
Louis and Mustafa will be fine at the chateau. The people I left in
charge of the place are loyal and trustworthy.”

With glowing eyes Ian said “Then we go
to the mayor’s home in Lyon tonight?” All three nodded, eyes
glowing brightly as Henri said “Yes, tonight.”

The funeral procession wound its way
toward a grave site in a well-kept cemetery in Barcelona. Since
Philippe’s mother was from that city and the family had a private
plot, the Rodriguez family had elected to bury Philippe’ there.
There were plots saved for both of them too since they had long ago
decided on this. Neither of them had any family remaining and
Philippe’ had been their only child. They were impressed beyond
measure at Alandra’s grief as well as the grief of her family,
having become close to them and being bound by their shared
sorrow.

Alandra and her family sat rigidly in
a closed black carriage, following another identical one carrying
only Roberto Rodriquez and his wife. In the lead was the casket
being drawn by two black horses. Following the procession was
another carriage with Celita and several friends of Alandra. A
priest waited at the grave site and with him were six men dressed
in black who would carry the casket from its carriage to the grave
site.

The procession stopped at the site and
the casket was silently taken from the hearse. The six men carried
it to rest above the grave, bedecked in flowers from end to end.
The families filed to the grave site and seated themselves as the
priest began his long ritual. The Rodriguez’s looked older by ten
years than they had looked only two days ago, and both had a frail
appearance.

Alandra herself hadn’t eaten a bite of
food since that day. The tradition of fasting had been easy for
her, having no will to eat or to do anything else. Her response to
anything at all was wooden and automatic, and she was a shell of
the vibrant, intelligent, lively girl of before. What the Rodriguez
family didn’t know was that her grief was compounded by her recent
heartbreaking discovery that Ian had married. That and the
senseless death of a man whom she did love dearly were combining to
depress her to a point that even the Rodriquez family couldn’t
comprehend.

At long last the priest finished his
litany and the families arose, each coming to the casket and put
flowers upon it. Alandra put hers on it and then knelt beside it
and began to weep silently. Her shoulders shook, but she stifled
her crying so that not a sound escaped her. The others looked on at
the stricken girl in great pity, and the Rodriquez’s pitied her,
kneeling next to her in sympathy. Finally her father and mother
came to her and helping her to stand they accompanied her to their
carriage. As the carriage pulled away, she sat slumped between her
mother and father, weeping and leaning on her father.

The wind sighed through the trees of
the cemetery, accompanied by the distant sound of surf on the
breakwater and a few birds singing. A carriage containing two young
couples clattered by as they chatted normally, one even laughing at
some remark made by one of the others. The world continued,
oblivious to the depth of grief at this place on this beautiful
morning.

***

A mile east of the site of the
now-destroyed mansion was a small natural lake, fed by a small
stream from the hills to the north. A figure lay in the deep shade,
covered in fresh mud. She had red hair which by now had mostly
regrown and her skin was now only a mottled pink shade here and
there. Only two days ago she had been burnt severely, and had been
covered with 2nd and 3rd degree burns after being kicked into a
blazing pile of straw by a mud-covered vampire with piercing frosty
blue eyes. She trembled with hatred at recalling the pain she had
suffered during the attack, yet now she realized that she would
have been cut down by that same vampire had he not kicked her away
so easily.

Never had she seen such
efficient fighters who could inflict such damage in such a short
time. She was certain that at least two females had been with them
too, having gotten a glimpse of them shortly before engaging the
one with the frosty blue eyes. She thought
damn your soul! I’ll find you and make you pay for what
you’ve done!

Her mate now only had one arm, and was
even now returning with a rabbit he had caught. She moved painfully
to help him kill and drain it.

He said “You’re getting around better
today and your hair is nearly regrown.”

“
I hope you never went near
that place. You stole those chickens the first night and we don’t
need anyone looking about, as close as we are.”

“
I can’t hunt now like I did
before. We need to get back to Paris where I can find easier
hunting because that gray-eyed witch cut my arm off. She and the
one with her fought Alain and I to a standstill, even as we thought
we would cut them down. They were too good with those swords for
females!”

“
I was thinking about how
good they fought and how few of them there were. What are we
missing? This is such a mystery!”

“
That little blue-eyed muddy
witch Alain fought was little bigger than a child but she handled
her sword like a devil! If only we’d had swords instead of knives!
I just don’t understand who they were and what in the hell they
were doing there. How could they have known what Francoise was up
to and why would they invade the place with all of us
there?”

“
Maybe they didn’t know us
to be vampires and just thought to invade and do as they
wanted?”

“
That makes no sense at all.
And they were all so damned good with weapons! Look at how many of
us they killed, and they were only a few that I could see. I can
make no sense of it, but I want to find them and to repay them for
leaving me with one arm. I will gut that witch who did this to
me!”

“
That one that kicked me
into the fire cut a foot off of one of ours like nothing. If he
hadn’t kicked me away, he would have killed me shortly. I tell you,
I saw him fight and I never saw one of us fight better.”

“
From what I saw of their
women the men must have been superb fighters.”

“
They were unbelievable!
Stefan, we’ll find them in time. We’ll need to make our way back to
Paris soon. If we can find a coven to take up with first, then
we’ll plan our revenge. We’ll need a lot of help against
them.”

“
They were saving those
children, Yvonne.”

“
What? You never told me
that!”

“
Yes. When Alain and I went
after them, they were coming into a big room just when Francoise
and his friends were leaving. We were bringing up the rear to guard
them when the two came up from the cellar. They were each carrying
one of the five girls from the cellar. We went after them and they
put the girls down and fought us like two demons from
hell!”

‘
Do you think they wanted
them for their own kills, to take and drain later?”

“
At first I did, but it
makes no sense. Why attack a place if you are outnumbered, just to
eat; and such an isolated country estate at that? I know a vampire
named Moreau who has an older brother who works for some very
influential
Adepts
.
His brother supposedly goes around killing vampires who attract the
attention of authorities by killing humans.”

“
I haven’t heard about
this.”

“
It’s supposed to be true. I
wonder if this bunch works with that older brother doing that. If
so, they are unbelievably well trained. I’ll ask him if I see him.
His name is Arnaud Moreau and I know a place in Paris that he
frequents.”

“
Be careful now, Stefan. If
his older brother does that, you’ll lead him to us with your
questioning his younger brother. I want my revenge as badly as you
do, but I don’t want that bunch knowing who we are and hunting for
us! Let me see what I can learn from this Arnaud Moreau myself. I
know of ways to persuade a man.”

“
I don’t like that, Yvonne,
but I do want my revenge.” She reached to him and pulled his face
to hers to kiss him as their eyes glowed brightly. “Won’t it be
worth it, Stefan?”