Forever Young The Beginning (46 page)

“
Those four look like they
could handle anything that comes their way.”

“
Well, they handle brooms
and perform stable maintenance too, Ian. No humans ever get into
this place.” They went up an unremarkable back stair case to the
second floor and came to a spacious area with benches along a
marble balustrade facing what had to be the chamber doors
themselves. The area overlooked a view of the front entrance which
was never used. There was an impressive marble staircase that
ascended from the entrance foyer to this area just outside of the
chamber. It was rarely used but was there only for
appearance.

The chamber doors were plain
but well-crafted heavy paneled oak. They had gold lettering in the
German language which said
‘Liechtenstein
Trade Guild’
. That matched a very plain
brass plate set into the masonry of the outer wall of the building
near the corner.

For all intents and purposes, this was
a private trade guild which allowed only members to enter. In fact
there were elaborately constructed and written files containing
supposed past trade forecasts and other sundry related subjects
supposedly discussed by the guild which were all an elaborate
fabrication to conceal the real business of this place. Those files
were periodically updated so as to appear to be both historic and
current. No vampire-related issues decided here were ever
recorded.

Ian took a place on the bench facing
the chamber double doors and Henri went in. It was no more than a
quarter hour when Henri himself came out and beckoned to him to
enter.

Ian took his hat and entered behind
Henri. He followed Henri to stand with him in the center of the
chamber. The room was completely round and was beneath the dome
itself. The dome had inserts of frosted glass to let in natural
light. There were four stained glass inserts bearing the same logo
as that on the doors of Henri’s coach. They were the same colors
being a purple shield, edged with gold and emblazoned with the
stylized Latin letters L T G in gold. Facing Ian was a raised dais
which had what looked like a curved marble judge’s bench with nine
tall dark red leather seats behind it. There was no ornamentation
of any kind in the room. Two flags flanked the bench, one being the
crest of the ruling family of the Duchy of Liechtenstein and the
other the crest of the Liechtenstein Trade Guild. Ian saw just the
top of a single door behind the judge’s bench. Presumably the
council members could come and go privately through that door.
There were two large ornate tables with several matching chairs for
each at the opposite side of the chamber. They were moved out of
the way to hear a case, and then moved back to make it appear that
some sort of committee hearings were done in the room. It was all
done to eliminate any idle gossip should a human ever make it into
that chamber.

All meetings were conducted in the
German language as it was most common to all present. “My esteemed
fellow council-members may I introduce Herr Ian McCloud, my most
esteemed colleague.” Henri then introduced the chairman first, and
then proceeded from Ian’s left to his right. To each one Ian gave a
curt nod of his head after the name of that one was given. They
each nodded in return. He met each one’s gaze directly when
introduced and his neck prickled non-stop.

The introductions finished, Henri
walked around the marble structure and up two steps to take his own
seat. It was silent for a bit, and then the chairman said ‘Herr
McCloud, how do you prefer to be called?” He was matter of fact,
neither overly friendly nor hostile.

“
Ian, sir.”

“
Very well, Ian it is.”
Henri tells us that you’ve assisted him greatly in dealing with one
transgression in Marseille and that you found and dealt with a
second one in Paris.”

“
Yes sir.”

“
This one in Marseille, did
you find who had paid for the humans taken, orphan children I
believe?”

“
No sir.”
I hope this is convincing them.

“
How did you come to believe
that a …rescue was merited, followed by a sanction being
levied?”

“
Sir, as Judge Lafayette
told me, the King’s Gendarmes had been notified in writing by the
headmistress of the facility. An inspector Rousseau had gone to the
orphanage, inspected the place, and made an official report. We
found out then that a second child had been taken and a second
report initiated and sent to the Gendarmes. It was a clear
violation of accepted rules.

“
Indeed.
Continue.”

“
For the two cases to be
quietly resolved and forgotten, it was deemed best to take the
children back to the orphanage and to tell the Gendarmes that it
was just a case of children who had run away from that
orphanage.”

“
I see. Don’t you worry that
these girls will talk about what they saw?”

“
No sir. It was at night and
they were kept in a dark cell in a cellar. They could barely see
each other. The two vampires took care to keep their abilities
concealed from these girls.” He waited to see if that lie went
across well or not.

“
And how do you know
that?”

“
Madame Lafayette conducted
private interviews with each one separately to determine what they
saw. They’re terrified to this day that someone might discover that
they were kidnapped and close the orphanage and throw them into a
government run orphanage or out on the streets.”

Another council member then spoke “We
all know of Madame Lafayette’s predisposition towards orphans and
some of us are concerned that is a …weakness if you
will.”

“
Sir, I too was skeptical.
Now though I’ve come to believe it has merit.”

“
And why did you change your
mind, Ian?”

“
The more children who can
become productive members of human society, the more stable that
society becomes as a result. Other countries in Europe would do
well to emulate what the Lafayettes have done in France,
sir.”

There was a pause as the council
members looked at each other. On the far right Judge Robert
Milliken of Britain spoke. He was an ordinary looking fellow of
medium height and weight, who could be thirty or forty years old.
He had a slightly rounded youthful face and his eyebrows made him
look as if he was always surprised. He projected an air of
congeniality, much as Henri did. “Well said, Herr McCloud.” I’ve
held that view for a long time. Will you tell us about the incident
in Paris?”

“
What exactly do you want to
know, sir?”

The chairman said “We want to know how
you found this place.”

Ian had dreaded this.
Here is hoping that I can lie well enough to
convince this council.
Without looking
toward Henri he said “It was quite simple sir. I was in Paris
concerning business of
Banque de
Lafayette
. I was walking past a sidewalk
café and I just happened to be looking at the customers there who
were dining. A chance reflection from the street hit the eyes of a
young man sitting at a table with a young lady. He flinched and
covered his eyes.”

“
What was so suspicious
about that?”

“
The movement was entirely
too fast to be human. Not only that, but he was facing the street
and should have made certain that he was facing the building
instead. I knew he was a vampire and a careless one at that for a
supposed
Adept
. My
curiosity was aroused and I waited some distance away to see where
he’d go. I followed him to the house in question.”

“
I see. That is commendable.
How did you learn of his intentions toward this lady?”

“
I eavesdropped after dark
and heard them talking about it. The one I saw at the café said
that he wanted her for his mate and that if she refused, they could
all feed on her with him because she would deserve it for refusing
him.”

“
And these vampires didn’t
hear or see you?”

“
No sir. I wore all black
clothing and a hood I made to fit over my face

“
You took the time to do
that? Why?”

“
I feared that if I didn’t
get them all, one might recognize me some day. That would be bad
for Herr Lafayette. I also didn’t want the woman to recognize me at
some future time.”

“
So you intended to save her
from the beginning?”

“
My goal was to kill all of
them. I thought that if she could be saved and safely gotten away
from the place, so much the better.”
That
seemed to go well enough
he
thought.

“
Did you take any other
precautions before releasing her?”

“
Sir, I spoke to her only
after I had taken her very close to a hotel on the Champs Elysees.
She hadn’t seen me attack and kill them because she’d already been
knocked unconscious by one of them.. After I had killed and
beheaded the six of them, I just wrapped her in a sheet and took
her to that hotel. She was conscious when I untied her. I kept my
hand over her mouth and told her that they were all dead. Then I
told her to go to the hotel and to have the concierge get a
carriage. I had her purse and there was more than enough money in
it for her to do that. I whispered only one thing to her
then.”

“
What was that?”

“
Sir, I told her that if she
ever spoke of this that I would find her and would kill
her.”

“
And you think she believed
that?”

Time for another
lie
. “Yes. She urinated all over herself
when I said it. And I never once spoke except in a
whisper.”

A smattering of laughter
followed.

From another council member “Did you
clean up the place then?”

“
I did.”

“
How did you determine that
she might be missed?”

Time for another
lie
. “Sir, she was no street walker or
whore. I heard a name and it was a name connected to a theatre
production I believe. I had seen it in an advertisement somewhere.
I feared that it would be reported to the King’s Gendarmes and I
thought that it would be a bigger potential problem than the
incident in Marseille.”

“
Who is she?”

He thought
Time for another lie
and
he gave the name of a well-known singer in Paris. He and Henri knew
that he couldn’t get away with saying he had forgotten the
name.

Another council member spoke and said
“You went in alone knowing there were six of them?”

“
Yes.”

“
And you seriously thought
to kill six vampires by yourself?”

“
Yes.”

“
Why were you so
sure?”

“
I had plenty of weapons and
surprise on my side. Who among you would expect one of us to invade
such a gathering in the security of your own home?”

At this time Henri spoke “Esteemed
colleagues, this is the one you may have read about in one of your
newspapers. He was a part of the party who rescued that Spanish
ambassador’s daughter.”

There was a general nodding of heads,
and some comments made from some of the council members to each
other.

“
So you were a part of
that?”

“
Yes sir.”

“
And you had to kill some
pirates that day?”

“
Six or maybe
seven.”

Judge Milliken said “Is that all?”
Much laughter followed that. “You had weapons then? What did you
have?”

“
Five pistols, a dagger, a
short sword, and a saber, sir.”

This time it was Nikola, the judge
from the Balkan region saying “Is that all?” Even more laughter
followed this time.

“
Did they not all attack
you?”

“
Sir, I killed four where
they sat and the other two ran. I had to chase them down to kill
them. I caught the last one in the dining room.”

“
You shot four vampires
where they sat?”

“
Yes.”

“
How on earth did you do
that?”

He gave a brief
explanation.

“
What? Shot two pistols at
once?”

“
Yes sir. I practiced doing
everything I could left-handed while I was
imprinting
.”

There was a buzz of conversing between
several judges and finally Judge Milliken spoke “So you can shoot
equally well with either hand then?”

Henri spoke up then. “Esteemed
colleagues; if I may say it, I’ve seen Ian shoot pieces of firewood
thrown from behind him. He shoots them in mid-air no less, and
consistently with either hand. I have seen him hit thrown targets
as many as twenty times in succession without missing. I’m not sure
if I’ve ever seen him miss a shot like that. And one other thing is
important that you know.”

“
What is that,
Henri?”

“
Ian was still
imprinting
along with
another of my colleagues when they helped take down those
kidnappers in Marseille. Ian fought with one of them by himself and
overcame him, and I can tell you that he was a big one, a fearsome
fellow.”