Forever Young The Beginning (69 page)

He saw a figure bound and
gagged, lying on the floor, eyes rolling about in terror. Gathered
about him were seven vampires, taunting him. Ian saw two females
and five males. Two of the males were bigger than Ian. They were
standing and he chose them as his first and second targets. He saw
no weapons visible.
Swords then and they
are a lot quieter
he thought as he stuck
his pistols into his sash, and drawing his short sword he signed to
the others behind him.

Their victim was a boy who looked to
be maybe nine years old. They taunted him. “We might even share
your blood with those downstairs.” More tittering laughter
followed.

“
Share this first!” said Ian
as he streaked forward short sword drawn, and lopped off the head
of the male nearest him. He shifted and quickly struck off the head
of a female as she rocketed up from the sofa. The biggest male
roared and attacked Ian, grabbing his sword arm and lunging forward
to force him down. He knew instantly that the other one was
stronger as he reversed himself purely by reflex and practice,
moving with his attacker. He locked onto the hand that had his
sword arm with his other hand and whirled as he gave ground, using
the other’s momentum as he pivoted sharply and dropped while
slamming his hip into the hip of the other. Throwing him overhead
he slammed him head first into the floor so violently that the oak
floor shook as it broke and splintered. Not letting go of his
opponent’s wrist, Ian twisted it rapidly in a circle fracturing it
while ramming his heel down into the face of the other four times
in rapid succession, smashing his nose and breaking his jaw as the
other bellowed. Letting go with one hand Ian drew his Dragon pistol
in a vision-blurring movement and jammed it into the other’s mouth,
pulling the trigger. The vampire’s head made an effective sound
suppressor for the discharge of the weapon as he blew the back of
his head off. He then ripped his sword arm free and decapitated his
foe.

Quickly he chose another target as the
retreating group encountered Li and Henri. By then, Andre had one
and had cut off his forearm. Sophia and Marie had both jumped on
one and were stabbing and hacking at him as the others were being
attacked by Li and Henri, forcing the conflict to stay in the
parlor. Marie was suddenly thrown clear by the one she had been
clamped to. He turned to strike at her as she rolled clear, but
Sophia struck his head from his shoulders with a two-handed
blow.

By that time the others were roaring
and screeching, trying vainly to escape. Marie and Sophia leaped
back into the center of it, joining Henri to strike down another,
Marie decapitating him. Li had finished two off during that
time

It was over quickly with seven of them
writhing about on the floor, headless. Ian and the others kicked
the heads into a corner and rocketed to what appeared to be the
cellar door in the kitchen. In a low voice he asked if any were
hurt and all shook their heads. “Just a few cuts, Ian.” said Henri.
Andre was wide-eyed with excitement and he flashed a grin at Ian
when their eyes met. Ian grinned at him and slapped him on the back
before turning to the cellar door.

Opening it he began a rapid but quiet
glide downward into the gloomy darkness followed by the others.
There was no way that the melee upstairs hadn’t been heard in the
cellar. They were all at the bottom of the steps and stood in the
darkness listening with all their senses attuned to their
environment. The only sound to be heard was a whimpering so Ian and
the others crept toward the sound. It was coming from a dimly-lit
room near the far end of the cellar. Gliding into it he stopped in
his tracks. There was a filthy little girl who shrank back from
him, crying out. He sheathed his sword, took off his hood and
smiled broadly, kneeling down close to her as Marie joined him,
saying “Hello. I’m Ian and this is Marie. Who are you?”

Cowering at first and looking from one
to the other she finally spoke. “I… I… I am… Aimee.”

“
Don’t be afraid, Aimee. The
others upstairs are dead. You can leave this place now. We’ll take
you away from here tonight.”

“
B… but what about Mama
Jolene?”

“
Your mother lives
here?”

“
Yes. She’s the one with the
pretty red hair.”

Wilhelm Hoffmeister and
Heinrich Von Steuben, fellow judges on the
Supreme Council
were walking through
Wilhelm’s garden at his home just outside of Vienna. “Willy, what
will it take to get Ian to become Chief Inquisitor?”

“
Well Heini, you know that
he lives at one end of Europe. He would have to move to the Swiss
Confederation to be more in the center. There is Turkey, Croatia,
Greece, Cyprus; and all of the other places in the Balkans. There
is Poland to the north and all of the western parts of Russia. That
is a hard thing to do from Spain.”

“
Spain? That is a hellish
place for a vampire. There must be a lot of potential for him to
stay in a place like that.”

“
Well, yes to both things.
He’s been working for the Lafayette’s setting up banking
partnerships in Spain and Portugal. It has been slow going down
there too. You can imagine the Spaniards and how they would receive
an overture from a French banker. And those Portuguese? Everyone
knows that they are an independent bunch, prone to keep to
themselves. He has to appear to be truly committed and living there
among them is the best way no doubt. Henri knows his trade, as you
well know. You know that Ian also travels to the British Isles and
the Southern and Northern Netherlands as well.”

“
Damn the luck then! He’s so
good at handling our rogue problems. If we could get him to live in
the Balkans for just one year and provide him with some young
strong
Adepts
that
he could train, what a difference it would make down
there!”

Wilhelm threw back his head and
laughed long and hard then. “Who is going to want to live there,
Heini? Be realistic.”

“
Oh I know it, but what a
shame it is for talent like that to be wasted in banking of all
things!”

“
Now Heini, you would agree
that the only thing better for a vampire than being an
Adept
is being a
wealthy
Adept.”
Here they both laughed heartily. Willy went on “You know that
Ian and Henri and their team will help us if we need them. Combined
the whole group is an asset not to be taken for granted or
offended. We should think of ways to express our gratitude for
their help. We never know but what we might need them
again.”

“
You’re right again, Willy.
I’m going to tell you about another lucrative thing that is
happening in Prussia now. Feel free to relay it to Henri and Ian.
I’m getting ready to get involved now myself. You’re aware of the
planned port improvement at the Baltic and the North Sea ports?
Hah! I know who will be designated to build the new iron-reinforced
cranes that will replace the wooden ones. And the best part of it
is that the work will give that firm a built-in advantage in being
awarded the upcoming modernization of the Prussian Navy to boot!”
He went on then to tell Wilhelm every detail, including name of the
company and how to become involved and profit greatly from this new
government project.

They entered Willy’s house arm in arm,
coming from his manicured floral garden and settled into chairs in
Willy’s spacious study as he poured Heini a cup of goat’s blood.
Within the hour, He had arranged to pay Heinrich the funds for an
investment for himself, Henri, and Ian. He would surprise them the
next time he saw one of them and present their documents of
ownership of shares.

***

The cleanup work seemed to go
agonizingly slow to Ian. He was focused, yet despondent. The guilt
at what he’d done cutting down Aimee’s mother was more than he
could bear, but he kept at the work at hand. He had hoped to be
able to save the woman and to stay with her while her head
reattached itself, but too much time had elapsed for that to work.
The house was searched well and the blood washed away. A sofa and
rug were to be hauled away and burnt. There were thirteen dead
vampires to dispose of and a nine year old boy to deal with. Andre
had taken on that job and had walked the boy to a safe area and had
given him money enough to buy six months’ worth of groceries for
his family. The last thing he told the boy was that if he ever
heard the story of that night circulating, that he would return and
would not be so nice to the boy or to his family the next time. It
was enough. The team had kept their hoods in place the entire time
in his presence, so the boy never got to see anyone’s’
face.

They all rendezvoused at the park at
dawn. Ian had gone with Li and Henri due to the number of vampire
bodies to dispose of. He saw Andre near Sophia, and Marie. Little
Aimee was sitting between them on a bench in a shaded area. As they
approached the women, the three of them sensed something wrong.
Marie had a strained look on her face and as he got closer, he
could see that in Sophia’s demeanor too. Henri said “Something is
amiss here.” as they walked up to the group.

“
What’s wrong,
Marie?”

“
We have a problem. It seems
that Aimee here has been brought over.”

The three of them just stood
there saying nothing. Ian was aware of a duck quacking from some
distance off in the park, and of a more distant sound of a dog
barking. The three of them stood, their eyes riveted on Aimee. He
felt a cold chill penetrating his body as the horror of it sunk
in.
My God! A child vampire! Who would do
such a thing?

Then he thought of the child trapped
in that awful reality and his eyes began to brim with tears for
her. He walked toward little Aimee and knelt down in front of her.
She sprang up and threw herself on him, wrapping her dirty little
arms around his neck and kissing one of his cheeks. “Don’t be sad,
Ian. Mama Jolene was not my real mama. She took me and made me to
be like her so she could be my mama. I was living on the streets
when she found me.”

“
Really?”

“
Yes. I’ve been sick since
she did that though. I’ve been so hungry but Marie gave me
something to drink and now I feel so good. Mama Jolene left me the
night you came.”

“
Where did she go,
Aimee?”

“
She said she’d come back
and that we wouldn’t be hungry after that, but all of you came
instead. The bad people upstairs didn’t like us at all. They made
us live in the cellar after they came. They said they’d kill me if
I even came upstairs.”

Marie and Sophia stared into his eyes
and they could plainly see his sorrow. Tears streamed from the
corners of his eyes as he held the little girl close. He gently
stroked her dirty hair and finally murmured in her ear in a husky
voice. “I don’t think that Mama Jolene is coming back for you. But
you can come with us if that is all right with you. You’ll never be
hungry, little one. And you’ll never sleep on a street again
either.” He looked at her with great compassion and took her dirty
little face between his hands and kissed her forehead gently.
Standing up then, he gently picked her up, walking to the carriage
and getting in with her in his arms. The others followed. Li and
Henri sadly shook their heads and walked over to the carriage and
climbed on top to drive. Aimee said “Ian, you smell good, and so do
Sophia and Marie.”

He looked down at her filthy face then
and said “Well you don’t smell good at all, little one. You’ll have
a hot bath this morning and some new clothes.” Then he smiled a
dazzling smile at her. In the next instant though, his heart nearly
broke as the grimy little tyke brightened up, eyes wide “Oh, a hot
bath! And new clothes too? Really Ian?” Tears of joy formed in her
blue eyes as she gave a trembling hopeful smile. He choked a bit as
he said “Yes. Really, little one.” He kissed her and held her
closer as fresh tears began to brim in his eyes.

They rode a few minutes in silence,
with Aimee sitting in Ian’s lap, her head on his shoulder as she
gazed out of the window of the carriage. Sitting next to Ian Marie
turned to him and speaking in English she said “There’s one good
thing about this.”

He looked at her as he cuddled Aimee
against his chest and replying in English as well he said “What
could possibly be good about this?”

“
She was brought over only
two nights ago.”

***

Liridona stood in the parlor of the
suite of Anna and Lukas Eschmann. They and their two daughters were
all seated. She said “I wanted to tell all of you this together.
Andre is staying with the Lafayettes. Monsieur Lafayette has
offered him an apprentice position as an assistant property manager
to care for their properties. They have offered me a position at
their home near Marseille. I do want to stay with you, but I want
to stay near my brother too. He’s the only family I have. I do want
so to thank you all for staying longer in Paris than you intended.
I can return to Lausanne with you and work there until you find a
replacement. So when you’re ready to leave, I am too.”

Anna looked at Lukas and then at
Liridona. “We both hate to see you leave, Liri. I do understand
that you want to remain near to Andre though. We’ll manage without
you, but we’ll miss you too. We do hope that you’ll at least visit
us if you ever return to Lausanne.” Here she rose and stepped
toward Liri and held out a leather purse. “This is a gift for you
and Andre for all of the years of loyal service to me.” Liri took
the purse and was surprised at its weight. She looked inside and
saw only gold coins.