Forever Young The Beginning (24 page)

“
Cosette and I sometimes
swim and fish here, Celeste.”

She rolled her beautiful eyes up at
him and giggled while covering her mouth.

Ian thought
that little scamp knows……something about
us……swimming here naked or maybe making love here too, I’ll
wager!

After nearly two hours exploring the
area around the falls, they mounted up and wound their way to the
Chateau, where the staff had lunch ready. Everyone went to wash and
then assembled in the dining hall. Henri asked a blessing and
everyone ate.

Angus reluctantly said that he had to
get back to Marseille that afternoon. He and the remaining crew
said their goodbyes to all. It was agreed that Mustafa would stay
with the Lafayettes.

Angus thought that they would sail in
two days’ time and he had to oversee provisioning the ship for the
journey home. Marie told him that a wine maker would be coming to
see him with an offer of a large amount of wine. Angus was
pleasantly surprised at the good price he was paying for
it.

After all of the farewells, the four
carriages wound their way along the driveway, departing to
Marseille. Ian and the rest of them stood waving good bye until the
carriages were out of sight.

***

Alandra craned her neck with interest
to see the sights as the carriage wound its’ way through the
streets of Almeria. With her in the carriage were Celita and her
Mother. Seated next to her was Philippe’. He was doing his best to
narrate facts about the sights as they came to them. There was a
festival in progress and they were approaching that area now.
Fireworks were planned for after sunset. There was a constantly
changing symphony of music and sounds of merrymaking as the
carriage wound its’ way through the streets. Ahead of the carriage
carrying Alandra was another one carrying Alandra’s father and
little brother as well as Philippe’s father and mother. They were
truly enjoying the sights and sounds. The entire entourage was
escorted to preferred seating near to the orchestra.

Soon the concert started and
it was magnificent for a city the size of Almeria. As it went on,
the sky darkened and stars came out. The fireworks started up as
the concert ended. ‘Oooh’ and ‘Aaah’ were heard constantly as the
happy crowd reacted to the show. Alandra looked up at the stars
after the show concluded and sighed, thinking of standing on the
deck of
Tico
with
a tall Scottish sailor explaining in his unique low timbre voice
and Scottish burr how he could navigate across an ocean in the
dark. She felt a pang in her heart, but she forced herself to
engage in conversation and to participate as best she could
manage.

The next day was when Ian began his
blood fast training. He would have to endure the faint spells and
painful final body adjustments without any blood. This would give
him the power to resist the need for it and it would condition him
to be able to function at his best when he had the least
nourishment. Marie again stressed this as a vital part of becoming
an adept. She and Henri were astounded at his tolerance to sunlight
for this long. Neither had ever seen or heard of such a thing
before in their lives.

Ian trained with Li doing all manner
of advanced Kung Fu techniques and they practiced with pistols a
good part of the day too. There was a weak spell that lasted for an
hour and was very painful so he merely rested in a shady place
until it passed.

They passed a pleasant day, taking the
children fishing below the waterfall and later that evening, Ian
read from the Bible for the children. Later after they had gone to
their beds, Marie began to teach Ian to play her
harpsichord.

The next day found them all
in two carriages bound for Marseille. They arrived at around nine
o’clock and found Elsie being loaded with casks of wine. Fresh
fruit and provisions of all sorts were being loaded aboard for the
voyage to Amsterdam. Marie and Henri had said their goodbyes
earlier and had gone to take care of some errands and to check
security and the official version of events at
Angels’ Care
orphanage. Ian had a
painful ride into town, and it only subsided as they neared the
wharf area.

Aboard Elsie they sat down to eat
lunch together for the last time. Li and Mustafa had come with
them. Angus asked the blessing and it was somewhat solemn because
these men had known Ian for most of his life. They had spent a
pleasant morning and had gotten to dine together. It was time to
say goodbye. With some eyes brimming and husky voices the men bid
each other goodbye until they would meet at either Amsterdam or at
Edinburg. Li shook hands all around, and embraced some of his
closer friends. Cosette kissed each of the officers and Angus one
last time. Angus took both of her hands in his and said “May our
God bless you as well as Marie and Henri for your part in all that
has happened. May God grant you both long life and happiness
unbounded and keep you safe until we meet again.” He ended with
giving Ian a mighty bear hug and they parted company on the
gangplank.

Shortly
Elsie’s Cloud
cast off all mooring
lines and was pulled to the end of the twin repair docks by the two
teams of six draft horses used for that purpose. Ian and Cosette
stood with Mustafa and Li, watching her turn with the aid of three
longboats and oarsmen. She then unfurled sails and made her way
gracefully towards the horizon. Cosette squeezed Ian’s arm with her
intertwined arm and laid her head on his shoulder, sharing his
sadness at their departure.

They stood there until the ship was
barely visible and only then did Ian turn to her. Taking her
shoulders gently he peered into her eyes. In a voice husky with
emotion he said “I know now that only for you am I standing on this
shore watching my ship and my life sail away. But you’re worth it
to me. Only you could take me from that life. I can’t live without
you.”

“
Oh, Ian!” She wept tears of
joy while gently drawing his head down to kiss him
tenderly.

***

Within an hour of the Lafayette’s
visit to the King’s Gendarmerie, a man walked in and asked to speak
to the Chief Inspector. There was some delay, so the man asked the
young gendarme to tell the Chief Inspector that Monsieur Aldric
Moreau wished to see him.

Inspector Claude Rousseau overheard
the conversation in passing by. Shortly the Chief Inspector came
out and beckoned to Monsieur Moreau, smiling broadly. The door to
the Chief Inspector’s office closed behind Moreau. Rousseau
shrugged then went back to the boring paperwork he was catching up
on. Shortly the Chief Inspector opened his door again and came to
Rousseau’s desk. He seated himself across from Rousseau and leaning
towards him said “Claude, I need that file about the two girls
kidnapped from that orphanage. What was the name of the
place?”

“
Angels’
Care
, sir.”

“
Very well, please find it
and bring it in to me quickly.”

“
That won’t be necessary
sir. Here it is.” he said, handing the file to the Chief
Inspector.

“
Ah! Thank you, Claude.” he
said as he went back to his office.

Rousseau watched until the
door was closed. He had just finished talking to Madame and Henri
Lafayette about the case. They had only wished to make certain that
the King’s Gendarmes were no longer looking for the girls. The
Lafayettes confirmed the report from the headmistress of
Angels’ Care
that the
girls had been found, having run away. They were only too glad to
be back at
Angels’ Care
having been without food for several days.
Rousseau thought it odd that someone else would be interested in
such a minor incident.

Shrugging, he returned to his boring
paperwork.

Shortly the man emerged from the Chief
Inspector’s office and left. Rousseau thought there was something
strange about him, but couldn’t put his finger on it. He had pale
blue watery eyes and blonde hair. Rousseau would have taken him for
Dutch or German although he had a French name. Tall and muscular,
he wore a really wide-brimmed black hat with a peculiar feather in
the hat band and also wore gloves.

Within the hour, the same
man stood outside of
Angels’ Care
looking over the building while walking around it.
He stopped when he saw a scaffold erected at a gable end of the
building. The window there had been removed and the opening was
being filled with brick and mortar at that moment. One mason and
one helper were even now working on it.

The man stood watching the workers for
over ten minutes as if lost in thought. He turned abruptly and
departed in an expensive looking carriage.

Several days passed uneventfully at
the Lafayettes’ chateau. Ian had seemed to have gotten past the
worst of the weak spells, but his final body adjustments had to be
endured until his blood fast time was up. They were very painful
without the blood, and Cosette ministered to him as needed to help
him endure it. He told no one, but he had begun to notice that
after several hours in the sunshine, he craved shade. Ian and Li
had continued to be barefooted, shirtless, and wearing shorts as
much as possible, only changing into long pants and shirts for the
regular evening social gatherings.

Ian told Li about the danger of him
losing his ability to make love. He informed Li that Marie had
taken the liberty of hiring a professional courtesan to keep him
company during his imprinting. Li as usual was impassive, but he
did show keen interest when told that part of his life would
forever vanish without imprinting it now.

Ian then went on to caution him
regarding his strength and how serious it was to be sure not to
harm the woman in any way whatsoever. He took a lot of time
explaining in detail how Li was to engage in lovemaking with a
human so as not to hurt her.

The woman, a dusky Sicilian-Arab
wench, arrived that very evening. She was pretty, and only two
inches shorter than Li, with cascading wavy black hair, large dark
brown eyes, and a sensual mouth. Li and the woman took up residence
in the caretakers’ house. His story to her was that he was hired to
teach martial arts and was being kept there for a short while. The
woman, Sophia, was told that she was a part of his contract with
the Lafayettes. She was visibly impressed the first time she saw
Ian and Li sparring. The speed and effectiveness of the fighting
were nothing like the drunken brawls she had witnessed for half of
her life.

All were careful not to use their
vampire powers in front of the children or Sophia. She seemed to
like the routine and the love she saw displayed daily. Having had a
hard life in Marseille, she had taken care to not be under the
control of a pimp at any time. It was a life that paid well enough,
but was empty. This life she was seeing was a different thing
altogether, being vibrant, spontaneous, rich, happy, and exuberant.
The coarse rude vulgarity that she’d been around all of her life
wasn’t to be seen here in this home. She had never imagined that
life could be this way. Daily she watched and bit by bit was drawn
by the life of loving and caring that these people
shared.

She was surprised that the Lafayettes
let her join them for their evenings and at meal times too if she
desired. She would have expected to have to stay near or in the
caretakers’ house the whole time. Li was what she would term a
preferred customer and was never selfish nor did he ever mistreat
her even once by word or deed. He was unlike the majority of her
customers, instead being considerate, gentle, and kind. She began
to actually look forward to their alone time together each night. A
bath and massage was always the beginning of their evenings
together.

He had come to really look forward to
that as well as to making love to her. In their lovemaking, he soon
began to ask her exactly what she wanted and then would try to do
that in order to please her. He openly admitted that he had very
little experience in that regard. She had never ever encountered
such behavior and over time she began to desire him, as opposed to
only accommodating him.

One day Henri came to Ian and said
“You and I have some business to attend to in Marseille today. I
want you to shave your beard now and leave only some broad
sideburns. I’ll be in a disguise.”

Ian’s curiosity was aroused, but he
told Cosette and went to see Marie for a razor and mirror. Marie
also applied makeup to make his hair gray on the sides of his head.
A bit later when he saw Henri, each could scarcely believe the
changes in the other.

A few hours later they were
in the office of the King’s Gendarmerie and both wore their sun
glasses. Henri introduced them both as Laforges to inspector
Rousseau, expressing a desire to meet with Rousseau at the
Blue Oyster Inn
after he
was through for the day. He promised to make it worth Rousseau’s
while and that there was nothing illegal in their business with
him.

Rousseau met them there that evening.
Henri told him to order what he wanted. He and Ian ordered dinner
so Rousseau did too. The proprietor Pronovost never recognized Ian
with his beard gone and with his sun glasses on.