Forever Young The Beginning (38 page)

The chateau was very near to the road
to Nice where she was going with her Uncle. They would have stayed
at an inn anyway, so they had accepted the invitation.

Louis had tried to be brave when Ian
had told him that Cosette had died. He still wept though as Ian
held him and Mustafa wept as well. Anna noticed how he tried his
very best to comfort them, especially Cosette’s brother, Louis. He
tried to divide his time that first day between the boys and his
guests and had insisted they stay until Henri, Marie and Li
returned.

Anna’s heart went out to Ian even as
her esteem for him began to grow. It was plain to see that he was
trying to keep the boys busy at things to occupy their minds even
while he was hurting so himself.

Anna noticed that he sometimes was not
at the chateau when she and Uncle Jacques came from their rooms for
breakfast. He would return within the hour, often with his pants a
bit damp. She thought he went swimming somewhere close by because
he was never riding a horse when he returned. He never wore boots
at times like that either but was always barefoot and wearing only
short seaman’s pants.

She thought that he would look like a
handsome dashing pirate if only he had a red bandanna tied atop his
head and a sword buckled on his waist. She imagined herself as his
helpless hostage, and the thought was almost naughty in a delicious
way even as she thought herself a fool for looking at a younger man
in that way.

In the evenings they would gather in
the parlor and Ian would play the harpsichord. He played quite well
and at times she and her uncle would dance a minuet if it was a
song for a dance that they both knew. One evening when they were
just listening to Ian play music Jacques had gone to bed. Most of
his musical selections were on the melancholy side.

She told Ian that she was a widow now
for some seven years. Her husband’s name had been Johannes and her
son’s name was Serge. He was now nineteen years old and attending
college in Bern. Ian told her about his family in Scotland and some
of his childhood. She learned how much he loved the sea and how
much he just now was beginning to miss it. She thought that he was
trying to hold on to what he loved to ward off depression. At times
like this she only listened patiently and offered occasional
positive comments. It seemed to help him cope with the void in his
life and Anna truly liked talking with him.

***

Marie walked to the carriage
having just escorted the four new girls into the headmaster’s
office and gotten them settled at
Angels’
Care
.

Henri said “We’d best check in on
Monsieur Pelleau now.”

“
What do you have in
mind?”

“
We’ll try to get a better
look at the place while he fixes our carriage.”

“
What’s wrong with the
carriage?”

Winking at her he said “Nothing,
yet.”

They then drove to the blacksmith shop
that Pelleau owned, and when they got close, Henri just pulled out
the axle pin with his bare hand. Then they drove the short distance
up to his door and stopped.

Henri got out and Li got out too,
assisting Marie as she climbed out. Henri walked in to see if he
could find Pelleau and met him as he was entering through the rear
door. He seemed startled and a bit ill at ease. Henri noted that
Pelleau was a big powerfully built man, with broad shoulders and
muscular arms. He just launched into his story and soon Pelleau
relaxed somewhat, going with Henri to look at the axle
himself.

“
I can fix that right now.
It only will cost you ten sous.”

Henri nodded agreement and Pelleau
went to get the part, his hammer, and his pliers. Marie and Li had
been walking around the corner trying to look as if they were
casually waiting for a repair while they looked at the place as
best they could without seeming to. It was a sizeable place, a lot
bigger than a blacksmith shop would need to be even if one lived
behind it. They noted the tall wooden fence all around the property
and that it had some five outbuildings behind the main building.
The next street back behind the place had two businesses that
backed up to the property. They didn’t have the Pelleau name on
either one.

Henri picked them up a little distance
from where he had been parked. “He seemed to be nervous about
something when I caught him coming from the back yard area.” said
Henri as the two nodded.

They decided to go and see Celeste
before they went back to the blacksmith shop that night. Li would
accompany them, being as there was no sense going to see Sophia and
then having to come up with an excuse to leave again that
night.

They arrived at the Rochelle home and
soon all were inside exchanging warm greetings. They took Caryn
aside and told her about Cosette’s tragic death. She revealed that
Celeste seemed to know when it happened as they made their way to
her room.

They knocked and then walked in to see
Celeste. She turned in surprise and with tears coming to her eyes,
she ran to Marie and began to cry even as Marie held her gently and
wept with her, rocking her.

She said “Yes child, it’s true. Our
Cosette is dead.” Eventually she lifted her head and her beautiful
doe eyes showed that she had been crying for some time now. She
said “Oh Marie! Poor Ian! Poor Ian! Oh how bad this is for him! He
was burnt so badly! Where is he?” Marie was a bit surprised because
Celeste always knew when Ian was near or not. She never had to ask
where he was before this. “Why, he’s at the chateau with Louis and
Mustafa. He wanted to be the one to tell them himself, and his
burns are healing very well.” Celeste nodded in understanding as
Marie said “He promises to come see you the next time he comes to
Paris. We don’t know when that will be though because he’ll be
doing a lot of Henri’s banking business from now on.” That seemed
to make her brighten appreciably.

Caryn took Marie aside and said
“Celeste’s monthly cycle has started, Marie. Her body is now
changing and she’s changing with it.” Marie instinctively knew that
was the reason that Celeste seemed not to know where Ian was and
had to ask. Somehow her prescient abilities had departed since she
had entered puberty.

Henri produced the
eyeglasses for Caryn’s approval and she gasped when she saw the
workmanship. She put on her new pair and absolutely loved them.
“This is going to be the fashion hit of the autumn season I can
tell you that! Henri, you and Ian are geniuses. I am going to sell
these things, just you wait and see! Oh my, I’m going to be envied
soon because of this.” Henri thought
you
may have more Adept vampires for customers than humans for what
these things cost.

They chatted pleasantly about various
things including how well Celeste was doing in all her lessons. It
was near dark when they said their goodbyes, telling Celeste that
they were going to leave early the next day for the chateau, to be
with Ian. She was sad to see them go but happy that they would soon
be with Ian, which deeply touched Marie.

They were soon on their way back to
Pelleau’s Blacksmith shop, deciding to leave the carriage nearby in
a vacant lot that was hidden from the street by bushes. The horses
had grass to eat and no one could see them from the street. Soon
they had changed into their dark clothes and had their
weapons.

Gliding down the dark side street they
easily leaped over the fence landing silently in a large tree
inside of Pelleau’s fence. Silently all three dropped into his back
yard in the darkness. They crept along and soon had split up, their
vampire senses straining to detect the presence either of their own
kind or of humans. Soon they met up again and none had heard
anything.

They were debating whether to begin
breaking into one building at a time when they heard a carriage
pull up outside in the front. Soon a man came to a narrow gate
leading from the outside of the blacksmith shop to the back yard. A
padlock was undone and the man came through heading to the building
in the center of the back lot. He knocked softly and was let in. In
under a minute, Pelleau and the man came out and went to a building
adjacent to the shop itself. The three followed the men into the
dark building. Soon there was the creaking sound of a trap door
being lifted up. Then there was soft crying and whimpering heard.
Marie tensed and would have killed them both then had Henri not
held her back.

The two men emerged, each having a
bundle over their shoulders and making their way to the front of
the shop. Three dark figures glided along silently behind them. One
put his bundle down and went for the carriage. Soon he had circled
it to where it was stopped adjacent to the front entrance to the
shop. Marie turned to Henri and whispered “Let me do this.” Henri
nodded. He and Li glided in the dark to position themselves just
inside of the doorway; one on each side to block any escape
attempt.

The man came back in and stooped to
pick up his bundle. Marie stepped forward from a shadow and kicked
the man full in the face, knocking him cold. She turned as Pelleau
entered the room and said coldly “Put that girl down you bastard.”
Pelleau was startled and froze a second. He could barely make out a
petite figure in the gloom standing motionless between him and the
wagon.

“
Why certainly,
Mademoiselle.” He carefully laid the bundle over to one side and
then turned to Marie. “You’ve got a lot of gall to come in here
like this little woman. I think I should teach you some
manners.”

“
You’d first have to have
manners in order to teach them, Pelleau.”

“
You know my name then?”
Pelleau struck a match and lit an oil lamp. Henri and Li faded back
a bit further and crouched down. Pelleau turned and saw a petite
blue-eyed lady wearing a dark top and a dark pair of men’s pants.
She was standing empty-handed but with a pistol and dagger stuck in
her sash. She saw his eyes go to the weapons.

“
Not to worry, Monsieur
Pelleau.” She said as she slowly drew both weapons out and even
turned her back briefly to drop them in the wagon next to the door.
She turned, stepping away from the wagon towards Pelleau. Again she
stood motionless.

“
You said something about
manners, Pelleau?”

He lunged at her then saying “Wench!
When I’m through with you…”

Marie met him with a blinding front
kick to his groin that was so powerful that it brought him up on
his tiptoes. In a blur of motion she then darted to her left and
pivoted at blinding speed to her right extending her foot to hook
his foot from under him. He roared and crashed to the floor
doubling up in pain. About that time both doors of his shop closed
and latched.

Marie was on top of him in a flash
grabbing his hair in one hand and smashing his nose with her petite
fist. She then dragged him back towards the entrance to the
building where the two little girls had been held, using only one
arm. He roared and cursed her, kicking and threshing as she dragged
him even as he began to vomit.

Henri followed and Li stayed with the
two girls. He untied them and calmed them, telling them that they
were soon going to go to a new home and would never see this place
again. Pointing down to the man lying unconscious on the floor he
smiled, saying “He’s not coming with you.” Then he gave them a
water skin to drink from, thinking that they might be thirsty. They
took turns drinking from it and while they drank, he reached down
and instantly broke the neck of the one lying on the floor. Coming
to the wagon with a smile then, he said that his friends would
return in a moment and they would leave that place
forever.

In the other building Henri opened the
heavy trap door. Beneath was a pit maybe ten feet long by six feet
wide. Half of it was under a wooden floor and half was covered by
the trap door. It was about six feet deep. Marie threw Pelleau into
the pit and jumped in after him, landing on his chest. Henri tossed
her the dagger from the back of the wagon.

“
Who hired you to take these
girls, Pelleau?”

“
Rot in hell wench!” he said
as he struggled to get up and reached up for her.

“
Pelleau, your manners!” she
said as she grabbed his reaching hand and sliced off his little
finger so fast he couldn’t believe it. He bellowed and cursed her,
drawing his hand back.

“
Manners, Pelleau, manners!”
He wailed and thrashed about. She stood to one side and kicked him
in the teeth. He spit three teeth out, cursing. She stood back
motionless, in typical vampire fashion. Three minutes of moaning
passed then she said. “Pelleau, remember your manners now. It’s not
polite to keep someone waiting who has politely asked a question.
I’ll ask you again and I must say to you that I’m beginning to get
a bit peeved. Who paid you to take those girls?

“
Why should I tell
you?”

She reached down in a flash and sliced
off his other little finger “Because I asked nicely you dunce.”
Pelleau screamed again and thrashed around for some two minutes
moaning. When his moans died down some she said “Pelleau, I’m about
to lose my temper. Once I do, your manhood is going to be the next
thing that I cut off. She reached down and took the hair of his
head in one hand and struck him three times like a tiny
sledgehammer. That splattered his nose all over his face. He
hollered in pain crying out “Stop, stop! A pox on you!” She
remained motionless and his moans subsided.