Forever Young The Beginning (66 page)

Marie said “I speak for all of us in
saying that we support that decision, Ian.”

Henri continued “Louis and Mustafa
will now begin to accompany Ian on most banking business to learn
it firsthand.” Turning to them Henri said “Mustafa, you’ll be given
a new name. It is Maurice Garnier. Louis will remain Louis as Louis
Laforge. You two will be going to Liechtenstein for the purpose of
meeting Uncle Karl and learning about private interlocking trusts.
Li and Sophia will remain more close to Marie and me, but Li will
be doing some banking business around Europe as well and will be
seen representing the Laforge interests as the Laforge name becomes
well known by humans. Li, you’ll become the top property manager of
the Laforges and Sophia will help you. You’ll need a new name as
well. What do you say to Leopold Durand or Leo for
short?”

“
From Li to Leo; is it that
easy?” Everyone laughed then.

“
Are we going to see the new
place this year?” asked Louis.

“
We can all go soon since
we’re all here together now.”

“
So we have a little time
remaining here, but are doing a transition to Zurich.” said
Sophia.

“
Yes, and an added benefit
for us vampires is that it’s more often cloudy there than here.
That is an outline of where we’re going and why. It will be ongoing
over the next three years or so. Marie and I have also bought
property with homes in Turin in Italy, Luxembourg, and Chamonix in
France. Any of them can be a place we can go to regroup if a
calamity should happen such as a large-scale war. They’re leased
now in order that they not fall into disrepair and they’re not too
near any large cities. Li and Sophia will handle their upkeep and
the rental revenue from them. If any of you have any questions ask
now or ask any time. We are flexible on this and any part of it can
change, but what I have outlined this evening is what Ian, Marie,
and I see as a general direction to take.”

Afterward, Alandra spoke to Henri and
Marie saying “I’m so happy that you support Ian making our home in
Spain. It means a lot to me.”

Stepping closer to her, Marie hugged
her and then said “We vampires take a long view of things. Besides,
we want Ian and you to be happy no matter what.” Alandra recalled
that statement about taking a ‘long view’ of things several times
after that. The implication was clear to her in retrospect. She was
human, a mortal with a limited life span. The fifty or sixty years
remaining in her life were as nothing to vampires.

In two more weeks the family was on
their way to the Swiss Confederation

The day after they arrived in Zurich
and got a suite of rooms, Henri leased two carriages and took
everyone out to see the new place he and Marie had bought for all
of them. There was a really large stone chalet house with two large
barns and several other outbuildings

In two days Celeste arrived. There
were warm greetings all around then. Alandra and Marie both noticed
that she was a bit different when hugging Louis and he held her an
especially long time. Marie and Ian exchanged looks and caught
Alandra looking at the two of them, smiling and nodding.

The entire group sat in the same box
as before, the one that belonged to the family who was head of the
Bern Canton. Celeste performed and completely took the hearts of
the audience as always. Afterward Louis was first to go backstage
and congratulate her. They left the next morning for
Liechtenstein.

The opera house at Liechtenstein was
in Vaduz, the capitol. The scheduled performance was not for four
days yet, so they all went to the home of Karl and Elsa Von Brandt
near Schaan. The Von Brandts were very happy to see the entire
group and had no trouble whatsoever putting them in rooms at their
large estate.

After a sumptuous supper, Celeste got
Ian to play the piano and she got to sing her four German songs for
everyone.

Karl took time to sit and council Li,
Sophia, Louis, and Mustafa about basic trust and estate law and
procedures. Henri followed that with partnering document
preparations, and property management and rentals. Ian sat in on it
in case he had forgotten something about the subject from the time
he had been schooled by these two experts. Henri had asked Ian to
exclude Alandra from any information concerning the trusts and
their construction. He feared that being human she could be
kidnapped and made to talk. The operation of the interlocking
trusts was central to the privacy and security of the staggering
wealth held by numerous influential Adepts, including
Henri.

They all sat in Karl’s box at the
performance. As always, Celeste informed her audience that she
didn’t perform for pay, but was supported totally by Banque de
Lafayette. Due credit was given to her aunt Caryn and to Caryn’s
Fashions for her gown. She told them that she had learned as much
of the German tongue as possible in order to perform for them that
night. The audience loved her and gave her a standing ovation as
long as any she had gotten anywhere

After two more days at the estate of
Karl and Elsa, the entire party departed to travel to Vienna. When
they finally arrived they were surprised to see that word of
Celeste’s performance at Vaduz had already made it to Vienna. There
were notices to be seen heralding the coming of the European
Nightingale.

Unlike the Swiss
Confederation, Austria was still a firm part of the Holy Roman
Empire and was ruled by a gaggle of princes, bishops, dukes and
arch dukes. So it had wisely been decided by Henri to only seat his
party in the personal box of his fellow judge of the
Supreme Council,
Wilhelm
Hoffmeister. In this way, no one could be offended because the
entourage of the European Nightingale had chosen to sit in the box
of this or that duke or bishop. Willy had advised Henri on that
point when he had been in Vienna to take care of the vampire
problem there not that long ago. They’d discussed Celeste’s coming
to Vienna at that time.

The performance was received by
thunderous applause and before they had departed Austria, Celeste
was known as the Austrian Nightingale.

They had stayed at Willy’s estate near
Vienna for three days, and then departed. The entourage wouldn’t
try to make it to Berlin because it now appeared as if weather
would surely close the mountain passes. There was sporadic snowfall
as the entourage made its way back to the Swiss Confederation.
Alandra looked out of her window in wonder at the snow falling,
having never seen it before.

***

Arnaud Moreau stood in the grand foyer
of the Francoise castle in Lacoste’. The butler, a tall muscular
vampire, had finally returned to show him in to see the Marquis.
Moreau was unimpressed with Francoise, taking him for a wealthy
perverted weakling. He did not mind that the man was a pervert, but
looked down on his being a slender, intellectual type of weakling.
He was known to be very wealthy and well-connected, in spite of
being in prison sometimes and even in an asylum once. His outspoken
perverted views concerning sex, and virulent criticism of both
Catholicism and of the Bourbon family had earned the enmity of both
the church and the Bourbons.

Moreau knew of the family name only
because his deceased brother, Aldric had mentioned Marcel Francoise
of Lyon as a customer who paid well for little girls. After
traveling to Lyon he had seen the ruins of the mansion and inquired
in town about that family. He had learned that a younger brother
lived in Lacoste’ and that had brought him there for
answers.

After introducing himself, he said
that he might have information on the mysterious fire and
disappearance of the Marquis’ brother. He was only groping in the
dark, but played it as if he knew something. Donatien Francois
became interested so Moreau told him that the only two names he
knew were Henri and Ian, and that they knew Wilhelm Hoffmeister of
Vienna.

The Marquis furrowed his brow, and
then he said “I know of a wealthy banker named Henri Lafayette.
He’s been successful in forming partnerships with banks around
Europe and has been successful in developing a system of drafts
which are honored across borders by participating banks. It’s a
clever concept really. He’s known to be a friend of Hoffmeister
whom I’ve only heard of. The only living friend of my… persuasion…
who’s in banking is a man by the name of Clifford Edwards of London
in Britain. His bank is known as Edwards and something or other. I
forget who the junior partner is. Edwards rarely makes it to
France, but loves to come for some of our …special activities… if
he can. His younger brother Miles has been here for the same
activities. Either of them might know more about Henri Lafayette
being that Clifford is the senior partner. They might be able to
connect him to what you’re talking about. I knew all of the six
others who were missing after that fire. Two were
bankers.”

“
What about the other
fellow, this Ian?”

Shrugging, Francoise said “Him I don’t
know of. Sounds like a name from Britain, Scottish or Irish
perhaps? Maybe Clifford or Miles would know.”

“
Thank you sir; I’ll explore
that information.”

“
If you find that foul play
was involved in the fire that took my brother’s life, I’ll be most
appreciative and will pay you well for your information, but it
must be accurate information. The Lafayettes are well-connected and
well-liked in France. Tread lightly about them if you value your
head.”

Moreau thanked the Marquis then and
departed. He thought about this new information and resolved to
make his way to London to see what he could learn about one Henri
Lafayette and someone named Ian.

By the time the family made it to
Lausanne, all but Celeste and Louis had to go on the very next day
or risk being trapped due to the mountain passes closing. Celeste
was staying with Ian and Alandra so Louis was staying too. The view
was stunning even in wintertime with the mountains on the far side
of the large lake visible whenever it wasn’t snowing.

Alandra was absolutely in love with
the beauty of the place and was outside as much as was possible.
Ian had gone to the blacksmith and had picked up the two pairs of
skates that he had ordered back in the summertime. It was only two
more weeks when the cove froze over thick enough for skating. They
all passed many enjoyable hours doing that when there was not too
much wind.

Ian went to Lausanne and after talking
to the blacksmith, he was able to find a sleigh and a dual matched
team of horses to pull it. He arranged to lease the whole outfit
for the entire winter. They enjoyed riding about in the sleigh,
going to Lausanne and all about the area anytime the weather wasn’t
severe. All of them were in love with sleigh-riding. Alandra and
Louis had never seen snow before taking this trip so it was
especially enchanting to them.

Ian took Louis to a boot maker and
ordered a pair of boots for him. Three days later he delivered them
to the blacksmith and ordered a pair of skates. Within ten days
everyone had their own skates. Alandra picked it up fastest and
best, seeming to have more natural balance than the other two. In a
month they all looked to be at home on the ice. Ian harnessed the
sleigh one day and took them all to Lausanne with their skates.
There they all skated and drew quite a crowd. Ian even did some
barrel-jumping, clearing up to eight of them laid together. He
faked three falls that day as well, so as to appear to be
human.

The winter passed all too quickly.
Celeste sang locally several times and it became known that the
Swiss Nightingale herself was staying in Lausanne and was a skating
prodigy as well as a singing prodigy. Ian was amused at the local
newspaper’s reference to the entire party accompanying the ‘Swiss
Nightingale’ as ‘ice skating experts’ that used “experimental
skates made of iron.”

He’d seen Anna one day while
they were skating in the city where everyone skated. She was with a
nice-looking man who looked to be a little younger than she, and
they were driving Anna’s sleigh. Right before they left Lausanne
for Paris, Ian saw the Lausanne newspaper pinned up in the town
square according to the custom of the time. An article said that
prominent banker Annaliese Fellman had been married to Lukas
Eschmann, a prominent entrepreneur who owned a clock making
facility in Lausanne. Ian thought
Anna, I
hope you’re finally happy.

The spring thaws cleared the mountain
passes and they departed for France.

***

They had arrived in Paris after an
uneventful trip, having stopped in Dijon to pick up some of the sun
glasses. Taking Celeste and Louis to her Aunt Caryn’s home they had
gone on to Henri and Marie’s apartment suite on the Champs Elysees.
Everyone was glad to be away from the rigors and restrictions of
travel. Alandra wanted a hot bath and Ian wanted to keep her
company so their evening plans were settled.

She laid her head back against Ian’s
chest as they lay in the oversized copper tub and relaxed in the
deliciously hot water of their bath. “Mmmm; Ian, this is so
nice.”

“
I can’t imagine where else
I’d want to be now and who else I’d want to be with. We didn’t get
to be alone quite as often as I would have liked what with all of
us being cooped up in the chalet all winter long. I did enjoy us
having that fireplace all to ourselves the times that Louis and
Celeste took the sleigh to the city though.” He said as he moved
her hair to one side and kissed her neck and nuzzled her
ear.