Forever Young Birth Of A Nation (16 page)

As he brushed her hair, she reached up and
took his free hand and brought it around to her lips, kissing it
softly and then pressing her cheek to it, she reached and took his
other hand with the brush and kissed it too. She sat that way for a
bit, kissing first one of his hands and then the other, and rubbing
them gently across her cheeks. Turning to him she rose and pushed
the chair out of the way and sat down on his lap, looking into his
eyes with yearning. She then took his face gently between her two
hands and kissed both of his eyelids, slowly kissing his cheek and
moving to his lips finally where she kissed him gently, several
times, moving back to his eyelids and then again to his lips.

He reached up and gently grasping her hair
behind her head, he pulled her back a bit and fastened his eyes on
hers saying “Moon Owl. There is something about me that you should
know.”

Taking his face tenderly between her hands
then she said “I know that I have come to love you, Ian McCloud. I
know that you are a very good man, a trustworthy man. I know that
you hurt for the deaths of your wives. I hurt for the death of my
husband. What else is there to know?”

“I am not like others.”

“Ian, you and James are different than any
men I ever saw or knew.” she said as she gently began to kiss his
face again.

“I mean that I am not human, Moon Owl.”

She paused to pull back and look into his
eyes as the wind outside suddenly became stronger, making a low
moaning sound. “What do you mean, Ian? Of course you are human.
Have you not lived with me all of these weeks?”

“I’m not human, nor is James.”

“Ian, I do not understand.”

“I was bitten once by another such as myself
and became infected. I was saved by Cosette.”

“I….I do not
understand….bitten…infected…Ian, what…?”

“Cosette was not human either, Moon Owl. She
was as I am, as James is. She gave me her blood and saved me after
I had been bitten. James was deathly ill, dying really; and another
of us bit him and gave of his blood also in order to save his
life.”

“So you were human and now you are not?”

“Yes.” There followed a silent spell then
during which only the wind outside of the tenant house could be
heard, whipping about the gables of the building. She sat; loving
the close contact of his body with hers, its warmth seeping into
her was like an aphrodisiac of sorts. She loved the sound of his
voice softly falling on her ear as it was with her head on his
shoulder. He nuzzled her a bit, softly kissing her forehead,
absently stroking her hair.

“I gave you my blood, a little bit, to cure
you of the white man’s disease.”

Again it fell silent, the only sound being
the wind outside. Finally she spoke, saying “Will I not be human
any longer?”

“No lass. That is not how it works. You must
be bitten by one like me and also take our blood. That is the only
way.”

“You are very strong and very fast too.”

“Yes, we are, but we lose important things
too when we cross over.”

“What….what things did you lose, Ian?”

“I lost my humanity, I can never have
children. Most of us can’t walk uncovered in sunlight and really it
takes a lot of painful adjusting to be even able to tolerate
daylight on a cloudy day.”

“But Ian, I see you all of the time in
sunlight.”

“Among our kind, I am a freak. I can take
direct sunlight for around four hours at a time. James would burn
up in less than two minutes in sunlight. That is why he nearly
always has on a hat and gloves. There is more.”

“Tell me everything.”

“We must drink blood to live.”

A log settled in one of the two stoves as if
to accentuate what he had just said. They sat in silence then as
the wind picked up a bit and whistled about the gables of the
house.

“You must drink blood? Human blood?”

“No! That is an abomination to many of us!
We drink the blood of animals, or many of us do anyway. We can eat
food too if we are
imprinted
properly, but we don’t need it
to live.”

“So all of the times we ate together…”

“James and I only eat meals with you to make
you feel more at home while you are with us. We do like human food
though. I eat mostly because I like to even though I don’t need to.
If traveling across country, sometimes we like to avoid eating
human food in order to travel faster and more simply.”

“Are there a lot of you among the
whites?”

“No. James and I may be the only two of our
kind in the colonies. There are a lot more of us in the great
cities of Europe, across the sea. Still, we are relatively few
compared to the humans there. I have a family there, mostly like
me, but some humans too.”

“Humans live with your family?”

“Yes. I love them dearly; really I love them
as much as I love my human family in Scotland.”

“Will you go to your family when you are
through here then?”

“At some point, I’ll go to them, yes. We’re
planning to move to America, all of us. It is complicated, really,
but I am here in advance to set up two banks. My family will own
part of them, and I was doing that when I became a hunted man in
New York City.”

“So you will return to your family over
there, but you will all move here some day?”

“Yes. I love them and I don’t want to stay
separated from them forever, just as you don’t want to remain
separated from the Seneca forever. I have a duty to complete the
work that I came here to do for them. The war has stopped that, but
one day that will end, and I’ll do what I came here to do.

“I understand. You should do what you
promised. It is only right.”

“There is more about us that you should
know. We never age. In a thousand years I’ll still look like this.
We must always lie to those humans we love. It is a way of life for
us, and for anyone we include in our lives as well.”

She sat on his lap digesting all of this,
her head resting on his shoulder, her face turned toward his.
I
remember now how his eyes glowed right before he killed that man.
He is strange after all, but how gentle and thoughtful he
is…..
After a moment then she lifted her head, and looking into
his eyes she said “I love you Ian no matter what you are. Love me,
please.” She then kissed him and began to be more passionate,
pressing her body to his, hungrily kissing his lips and peppering
his face and eyelids with little kisses as he responded in kind.
His tongue gently teased her lips until she parted them as their
two tongues met, each caressing the other gently. She tipped her
head back as he softly kissed her throat, nuzzling her neck and
kissing her ear gently as she moaned softly, clutching at him,
drawing him to her.

Standing he carried her into her room,
lowering her onto the bed and began to undress her slowly as she
helped undress him. They caressed and kissed each other as they
undressed and gently, they made love then. In moments it became
urgently passionate and each was lost in the wonder of it as they
only sought to please each other.

Afterward, she lay in his arms, her hair
spilled all about his face. Still breathing deeply she gently
kissed one of his hands as he stroked her head gently, caressingly.
“Oh Ian, that was wonderful! I…I did not know if I could do that
ever again because of what that man did to me. I….I am so
grateful….I… oh thank you for saving me that day and thank you for
making me whole again.”

“Ah, lass. You have helped me too. I have
hurt for some time now and you have taken some of that away.” She
dozed off then in his arms. He lay there listening to her
breathing, thinking
what a sweet and lovely young woman!
What future have I to offer her? Sitting among people alien to
her culture while James and I are God knows where for who knows how
long. She deserves better. She needs to be with her people. I can’t
stand the thought of leaving her here or in any colony alone. I’ll
take her to her people in the springtime as I promised.

Within the hour, she awakened and they again
made love. This time it was far slower and lasted quite a bit
longer. She softly wept for joy afterward, snuggling in his arms as
the wind began to howl outside. Sleep came softly then as she held
one of his hands to her lips.

Terrence Dalton sat waiting in Robert
Milliken’s outer office in London. He saw a man leaving then that
he knew was a member of Parliament as the receptionist summoned him
to the inner offices. Milliken was standing looking out of the
window when he came in.

“Please be seated, Mr. Dalton. What is new
in this affair?”

“Sir, recently the red-headed lady and the
man with the hook sailed for the Colonies as you already know.”

“Yes.”

“Miles Edwards meets at times with Arnaud
Moreau, usually at Edwards’ home. I believe that they are
supporting those other two. A friend of a friend at Wellington Bank
told me of a line of credit that they made for the two and that it
was to be extended to New York City.”

“I see.”

“That line of credit is for two thousand
pounds sterling. There is also a deposit now in the names of those
two in the amount of five thousand pounds sterling, here in
London.”

Turning to Dalton, Milliken raised his
eyebrows and said “Really! Imagine that now! Hmmm.”

“I followed another man whom I did not know
leaving a meeting with those two and he took a packet boat across
the channel to Calais, in France. Sir, I think that they have begun
an investigation of this man Henri, whoever he is.”

“Indeed they have. Very good, Dalton.
Anything else?”

“No sir.”

“Very well then. I want you to now go to
number 14 Grosvenor Square and talk to Cynthia Robbins. Mention my
name and sit down with her and give her a detailed description of
what this man that went to France looked like. Then give her a
detailed description of what Moreau and Edwards look like. I want
height, build, estimated weight, facial features. You will stay
there until she has completed the portraits to your satisfaction.
She works very fast and she is a gifted portrait artist who will
render lifelike drawings of these three. I want two drawings of
each person. I’ll pay her and pick them up myself. She is to drop
everything and do all three drawings immediately per my say so.
Understood?”

“Yes sir.”

“Daily briefings will be continued.”
Fastening his eyes on Dalton then Milliken said “Do not forget for
a minute how dangerous these two are. No following them at night no
matter what, and don’t put yourself in a boxed in place with no
escape. If they catch you, they will kill you. Is that
understood?”

“Y…yes sir. I will be careful.”

“That’s a good chap. Good day then,
Dalton.”

“Good day sir.”

He pondered all that he had heard as he
looked out of the window at another day of drizzling rain.
I’ll
have to get a priority message to Henri on this one. They are
taking it to him in France after all. Likely just gathering
information right now. First locate him, and then find out who is
about day in and day out, weaknesses, traveling habits, etc. He’ll
know how to prepare, and most importantly they won’t know that we
are on to them. Henri and the rest will all be at the chateau for
the winter. No one is checking on me yet. That ink bottle trick
worked well.

Ian had decided to stay away from the South
Meeting House, Faneuil Hall, and other known patriot hot spots.
Reasoning that agents of the Crown would be watching those places,
it seemed wise to keep Moon Owl away from the place and who knew if
Grundy had sketches of James and him made and circulated in Boston?
Why should she be exposed to danger for things of their doing, not
to mention that she could be seized and used to force the two to
surrender themselves? That could force them to expose themselves as
not being human and that was unacceptable.

So instead they had forayed into Boston at
times as a couple and he had decided to maintain his cover as Adam
MacRae and hers as Monique Orleans. If asked they agreed to say
that they were staying at various inns throughout the area and
would in turn ask about where they might rent a place. Ian was
adamant that no one in Boston know where they were living. Whoever
asked Moon Owl about herself would be told that she was originally
from the Marseille area of southern France, but came to Quebec as a
child. That would hold up to all but the closest scrutiny and would
suffice to defuse any casual curiosity on the part of anyone. The
tenant’s house they had leased for the year was safe, being fairly
remote with no neighbors nearby. The farm itself was owned by an
elderly couple who could no longer work the land and who were only
too glad to have all of the rent paid in advance through April of
the next year. Their sons were both in the Continental Army and
would return to work the land when the war was over. The couple had
only had seen James dressed as a frontiersman, so Ian felt that
they were in a secure location.

He bought a used violin of mediocre quality
and began to play it of an evening for Moon Owl. As he would hum a
tune, he would teach her to dance a simple minuet. She was promised
that when James returned to play for them that they would dance to
the music.

“Ian, why do you teach me the dance of white
people?”

He pulled her to him then, kissing her
tenderly and then smiling down at her he said “One evening yet
while we are in Boston I will try to find a way for us to attend a
ball, and we shall go there and dance together.” She brightened
noticeably as they separated, and laughed at the idea of attending
a dance which only allowed white people. Ian walked to her room and
returned with a pair of folded blankets.