Forever Young Birth Of A Nation (56 page)

Even as they milled about shouting to each
other in the darkness, Ian had again leaped across the river and
had taken his position in the mouth of the cave. He passed seven
blankets back without comment to the others, keeping one. Gesturing
to the two smallest of the children as lightning illuminated the
cave, he said “come and be warm” as he put the blanket around his
shoulders and made room for them between his legs, patting the
ground there. The two stood hesitantly in the flickering light,
looking to the women and to Ian. The woman who still had his knife
stood and ushered them to him, making them to sit. He nodded to her
pulling the blanket around them and they gradually settled, making
themselves more comfortable. In minutes their shivering had stopped
and the group sat behind Ian huddled together beneath the blankets,
watching the downpour. Lightning illuminated the scene sporadically
even as the storm receded toward the east. Eventually there
remained only the sound of the drumming rainfall in the darkness,
faintly lit now and then by distant flashes of lightning, even as
the sound of the river grew louder with its volume of new
water.

Priscilla snuggled in Oliver’s arms
contentedly, her head on his chest. For the first time ever since
she had crossed over to become a vampire, she had truly enjoyed
herself intimately with a man. He had been gentle, very caring, and
sensitive to her needs above his own, which was a completely new
thing in her experience. As she lay there reliving the experience,
the glowing aftermath warmed her.

Oliver spoke in a low voice then, saying
“You were … different this time, Priscilla.”

“Mmmm… it was different for me this time”
she said, snuggling a bit closer, putting one leg over his stomach
and craning her neck to kiss his neck softly. There was a knock at
the door and Oliver said “Come in.”

Yvonne entered, looking peeved while
standing in the doorway, her hands on her hips as she said “You
didn’t tell me you had returned.”

Priscilla covered herself modestly and put
one hand to her mouth as she laughed a bit saying “Oops. I’m sorry
Yvonne. I no sooner got here than I saw Oliver and … well, here we
are.”

Yvonne saw the glow on her face and suddenly
smiled radiantly as she thought
finally you have found a mate
who pleases you. This is good.
She finally said “Oh, I don’t
care too much I guess. Did you have fun?”

“Mmmm… did we
ever!”

Actually laughing now Yvonne said “I meant
on your trip, silly.”

Priscilla stretched luxuriously and nodded,
and then suddenly as an afterthought she bounded out of bed,
leaving Oliver lying there completely exposed and scrambling for
cover while she went laughing and wrapping herself in the bed
sheet. Running to her ruck sack she pulled out a toothbrush. It was
a wooden handled one, very well made and she turned and ran to
Yvonne, handing it to her and kissing her cheek with a laugh.

Taken by surprise by both her joy and the
unexpected present, she stared at Priscilla wide-eyed, and then
smiled radiantly and embraced her, saying “Why thank you,
Priscilla. That was very thoughtful of you.” Knowing that the
members of her coven had no money she casually asked “Wherever did
you get this?”

Priscilla hunched her shoulders as she
clasped her hands together and rolling her eyes with a giggle she
said “I stole it. Rich Tories have the best stuff!” Her bubbly
enthusiasm was so contagious that Yvonne laughed with her in spite
of herself and stepped close to give her a kiss on the cheek,
saying “Thank you again, Priscilla. It is a wonderful gift, and
quite rare. When you two are ready, come downstairs. We are moving
soon and we need to have a meeting.” Smiling then, she walked out
and softly closed the door.

Oliver patted the bed and when she came to
him, he pulled her gently down to lie with him, whispering in her
ear “What magic you used on her! I have never seen her in such a
good mood since I’ve been here. I can hardly believe my eyes!”

“I can hardly believe that I had such a good
time with you, Ollie. I tingled all the way to my toes! Let’s not
ruin her mood now though. We need to get down there right
away.”

Dressing at vampire speed, the two were in
the parlor in a minute, taking a seat on one of the sofas. Yvonne
entered the room, saying “We will start in a moment after I get
Harold.”

Jumping up, Priscilla said “He’s in the
barn. I’ll get him, Yvonne.” She leaped to the top of the stairs
and ducked into her room and back out in a flash, rocketing out the
door and toward the barn. Slowing, she walked into the gloom of the
interior and saw Grundy with several sabers at his feet. He was
pedaling the grinding wheel and putting an edge on one as she
approached.

Standing respectfully by while he ground the
blade she smiled prettily at him. After two more minutes he stopped
and flicked his dark eyes to hers, saying “What do you want?”

“Yvonne is having a meeting now inside and
she wants you there. Here; this is for you” she said as she handed
him a whetstone.

Taking it he looked at it, turning it over
in his hands, and then flicking his dark eyes back to her, he
raised his eyebrows questioningly as she said “You take care of our
weapons so well that I thought you would like this to carry in your
ruck sack.”

He looked at her for a bit, speechless at an
act of simple kindness, and then he actually smiled at her a bit
and said “Thank you, Priscilla.”

Putting her hands together and looking down
shyly and then at him again with a smile, she said “You are welcome
Harold” and turned, rocketing away toward the house.

Soon enough Grundy came in and the meeting
commenced. It was really only a summary of things they had been
warned about, mostly dos and don’ts. Grundy said “We will number
seventeen then.”

Bartholomew said morosely “We should be at
eighteen but for Roland disappearing” as he looked at Priscilla.
She thought
why is he looking at me? Does he suspect me of
something? There is no way that anyone follows me when I see
Cosette.

Suddenly she stood up and said “Oh! I have
something that I found while I was gone. Excuse me” she said as she
rocketed up the stairs and back from her room almost immediately
with a folded newspaper. She handed it to Stefan respectfully.

Stefan looked at it and said “This thing is
months old. What is so important about it?”

Priscilla took it and opened it, pointing to
a very small article. He peered at it and looked up at her, his
mouth agape while handing it to Yvonne who gaped at it too. She
read it and then said “There was a vampire attack on a man near the
Millhouse estate.”

The group began to look at each other and
talk, each denying the deed when Yvonne said “Quiet down now. This
happened when Roland was assigned to watch the Millhouse home. I
think he did it and ran away rather than be killed.”

Grundy said “Let me see that.” He pored over
the article and looking up he said “There is no mention of
suspected vampire activity here.”

Yvonne said “No, but read what it says about
the bite marks on the man’s neck.”

Grundy looked again and then looked up,
saying “Damn that fool to hell anyway. If he was here I would take
his head now!”

Yvonne came over to Priscilla and put her
arm around her saying “This is just one reason that Priscilla is
going to be in charge of the tenant house at the Stedman’s estate
when we move there.” The others nodded silently, but Bartholomew
sat sulking as he thought
damn you Priscilla! I don’t know what
I want more, to bed you or strangle you. You get your own room
while the rest of us bunk wherever we can and all we ever hear
anymore is how wonderful you are. And now you have taken up with
Oliver to boot.

A large, well-appointed carriage pulled up
in front of the Marseille Gendarmerie. It had four matched horses
and even boasted window glass as well as luxurious curtains. The
driver was Mustafa and the coachman was Louis. Celeste and Liri got
out after he opened the door and he helped what appeared to be
three six-year-old children down. One was an angelic-looking girl
with golden hair, deep blue eyes, and skin like polished porcelain
who was actually a fifteen year old vampire. The women escorted the
three into the large stucco building past two armed guards. They
proceeded down the hallway to the office of the chief inspector of
gendarmes of Marseille and walked in. An assistant smiled and stood
up, saying “Bon Jour! Let me get the chief inspector.”

Nearly immediately the chief inspector came
out, smiling. He walked up to the two women and introduced himself,
kissing each of their hands. Kneeling, he smiled and introduced
himself to the three children with a friendly smile, shaking the
hand of Xavier and kissing Aimee’s and Celine’s hands as they
smiled and curtseyed. Rising he smiled again and said “Please come
this way” as he walked out of his office and across the hall to a
large interior room with no windows. It had been freshly painted
and had toys of various types lined up along one wall and there was
a woman there who the chief introduced to the women and children as
his wife. None knew that Aimee concealed two loaded pocket pistols
and a long knife beneath her petticoat in a specially made harness
and holsters.

After each mother had knelt in front of the
children and admonished them to behave they said their goodbyes,
each kissing them. Rising then, they followed the chief out into
the hallway, seeing that now there were two guards at the door as
well as four at each end of the corridor. As they left the
building, they noticed that there were now six guards on the door.
Shortly the carriage pulled away into the gathering dusk, lamps
lit.

In less than a quarter of an hour, it pulled
up to a windowless warehouse about the time the door slid open to
allow it inside. The interior was lit with numerous oil lamps and
as the ladies got out, Mustafa gestured for them to walk with him
toward three men and a lady, all wearing black fighting suits
complete with weapons.

Henri stepped away from two middle aged men
who he was speaking with and gestured for the four to approach.
Turning to the two middle aged men he said “Esteemed colleagues,
may I introduce Louis Bouchard and his wife Celeste, and Maurice
Garnier and his wife Liridona. Louis, Celeste, Maurice, Liri, may I
introduce Heinrich Von Steuben and Wilhelm Hoffmeister, my
colleagues.”

Heinrich stepped forward, and after shaking
both hands of the men, he kissed each lady’s hand as they curtseyed
properly. Wilhelm did likewise with the group and then Heinrich
said “I have yet to hear the famous Celeste sing. Perhaps when this
unpleasant business is concluded we will get the opportunity?”

Marie laughed and said “Oh Heini, you are
such a ladies man! We’ll see to it that Celeste does a private
performance for you at our home before you depart.” Celeste smiled
radiantly and said “Gentlemen, it would be my honor and a great
pleasure as well. I look forward to it.”

Marie stepped forward with two bundles of
clothing and two rucksacks. Li walked up and tossed both Louis and
Mustafa each a bundle of clothing and a rucksack. The women left,
entering a door leading to a back room where they could change
clothes. Louis and Mustafa changed clothes where they were, donning
their black fighting suits. As they were strapping on their
weapons, the ladies rejoined the two and all of them walked across
the room toward a sizeable group of men, also clad in black
fighting suits.

Li turned and smiled as they approached,
saying “All of you know Steven here from our last mission. We also
have with us Deiter and Freidrich from Austria as well as Hans and
Josef from Prussia.” They all smiled and shook hands as Li
continued, pulling out a piece of chalk, saying “Gather around.
Here is what we know. This is their house.” He drew a rough
rectangle on the warehouse floor around eight feet long by three
feet wide. “We have found that there is no cellar in the place. It
is three stories tall with attic dormers. One of those is already
clear for entry. I would like to send a team of three through the
dormers to clear the upstairs first. Those three would divide then.
Two would block escape up the main stairs and one would block
escape on the back stairs. That one would come to the kitchen and
join the fight there or wherever it is happening. The two others
would stay on the stairs and prevent any escape. Those three will
each have a blunderbuss, two dragon pistols, and three pocket
pistols as well as sabers. That accounts for three of our nineteen
fighters. The six women will come in the front door as a unit and
prevent any escape there. They will stay together as one unit. The
remaining ten of us will burst through the eight side windows and
two front windows, here, here, here, and you get the idea.
Questions?”

Heinrich spoke then, saying “How does the
upstairs team fit in?”

“You three go in five minutes before we
attack and make sure none are upstairs before going to your posts.
That should be enough time. If we hear fighting, we will all attack
from all sides.”

Henri stepped forward into the midst of the
group with a box which he opened. There were eight pocket watches
and all were set to the exact same time. He gave one to Marie, one
to Heinrich and then handed the box to Li, saying “each team gets
one of these. At exactly one minute before we attack, we all
approach the house. Until then we stay well back from it. The place
sits on six acres of land and I have the King’s Gendarmes ready to
block access to that street from two places. They will stay two
blocks away and will not come nearer no matter what they hear.”

Li said “If that is all, we should go now.
There are four of us there now watching the place.” Wilhelm stepped
forward and asked “What about the others? How many are there and
what can we expect?