Forever Young The Beginning (47 page)

“
Fought with an adult male
vampire while he was still imprinting?”

“
Why, that is remarkable
indeed!” said Robert Milliken.

Several judges spoke to each other
then, shaking their heads.

The chairman said “That is truly
remarkable, but pistol wounds don’t stop us.”

“
Sir, a vampire shot between
the eyes will drop and be helpless for a while.”

Judge Milliken spoke then. “Four of
them shot in their heads? Oh, I’ll wager that the other two ran
like hell!” At this the entire council laughed.

Chief Judge Heinrich Von Steuben then
spoke. “Enough of this! We still have the mess in the Balkans to
consider. Is anyone here in doubt that this was a righteous
execution?” Several said “No.”

“
Then I move that we either
make it unanimous or close this chamber to deliberate this matter
now.”

Judge Milliken said “I second that! My
vote is a ‘yes’ to the question of righteous execution, and a
heartfelt ‘thank you’ to young McCloud here as well.”

There was a chorus of
“Yes.”

“
Opposed?”

“
Then this is judged to be a
righteous execution of judgment and has the full support of this
council. We are adjourned for refreshment.” The gavel dropped with
a loud bang.

All of the council stood and several
beckoned saying “Ian, come have some refreshment with us. Come over
here.”

Ian sipped from the cup that was
offered as he was questioned for a quarter of an hour then, mostly
about the pirate incident. All of the judges shook his hand and
several slapped his back saying “Well done.” The chairman then
stepped to his place and banged his gavel saying “We’ll now
consider the report from the Balkans.”

Henri nodded toward the door and Ian
walked out, relieved. He sat outside patiently. It took about an
hour, but finally five judges came out with Henri. Three were
wearing sun glasses. They came over to Ian and said that it had
been an honor and a pleasure to have met him. One took his new sun
glasses from a breast pocket and said “Henri tells me you invented
these.”

“
Yes, sir.”

Judge Milliken from Britain said “Well
I love them and I know that my wife will too.” Then two others said
he had relieved the boredom of the assembly, and that they couldn’t
recall having such a good time doing council business. They all
chatted in a most congenial fashion, pressing Ian for more details
of the pirate affair. Two had sailing experience and greatly
appreciated the craftiness of Captain McCloud in the way he
deceived the pirates to get them within range of Elsie’s
cannon.

A half-hour later Ian and
Henri walked out and got into their carriage. They had gotten maybe
two blocks from the place when Henri erupted in laughter and
slapped his knee repeatedly. “By Heaven Ian, I’ve never seen the
like at a
Council
meeting. Never! We never come out of those doors. We always
exit using the other door. They came out with me so that they could
talk more with you.”

“
Well it was a first for me
too, Henri.”

“
A first?”

“
Yes, my neck prickled the
whole time I was in there what with nine vampires staring at
me.”

Henri threw back his head and laughed
all the harder. “Ian, this has been one good day for
us.”

“
So it did go well
then?”

“
Go well? They’re ready to
give you the key to the city!” He laughed all the
harder.

Karl had taken Anna, Celeste, and
Serge into Vaduz for a sightseeing trip. Some old Roman
fortifications were viewed and they ate at a really nice inn where
Karl was well known. They all met later at Karl and Elsa’s
estate.

They spent two more delightful days
there at the Von Brandt estate and then departed to return through
Zurich. Henri had business there and included Ian on all of that
since he was there. After that, Henri said he needed to go to
Vienna and then to Turin, Italy. He would return to the Marseille
area by ship. They parted company in Zurich and everyone came to
Lausanne to stay for a while with Anna at her big country
Chalet.

Celeste got to sing while in Lausanne
and even got to sing in Geneva. She was added to existing
engagements as a prelude to the main show, but quickly gained a
following even in just a short while in both cities. She was never
paid nor did she ask for payment, so the various opera houses were
only too glad to have her as a preliminary to the main production.
She did ask though that she be allowed to tell her audience that
she was only able to tour and sing because of the support of the
Banque de Lafayette and Caryn’s Fashions.

All too soon they had to bring her
back to Paris. Ian attended a bank conference there and got to
spend time with her before leaving. He pressed her aunt Caryn to
see about having Celeste do impromptu prelude appearances at
various theaters about Paris. She agreed to do that in the
understanding that it would please Marie Lafayette.

***

The next three years were a lot like
that, what with Ian meeting with Anna at the chateau at times and
at Lausanne or Paris at other times. He traveled to Scotland alone
and also with Anna, and their reunions were always joyous
occasions. She had never mentioned marriage and Ian thought that
owing to her social station, she would have been embarrassed to be
married to a much younger man so he never pressed her on the issue.
He loved her enough to commit to marriage though, should she have
indicated the desire for that.

Celeste’s popularity grew each year
and she was coming to be considered a prodigy. She and Louis began
to spend more time together when she would come to the chateau. Ian
tried to spend the winter in Switzerland if business would allow it
and desired nothing more than to be snowed in with Anna. Serge
graduated and was now working for an engineering company in Bern.
The maid’s brother, Andre remained healthy and never became sick
with even a cold in all of this time. He was in robust good health
and Anna had paid for his education to recommence. Ian bought both
him and Celeste ice skates, having them made at the same boot shop
and blacksmith shop.

Celeste finally got to learn to skate
while at Lausanne one winter. She was becoming quite a young lady
now and was wildly popular in Lausanne, Geneva, Lyon, and was
growing in popularity in Paris. Still a prelude act she was not a
part of any opera company. The good will generated by her
performances caused a noticeable growth in Henri’s banking
business. People began to establish new accounts there and to do
business with them simply because of her.

Ian’s personal fortune grew as Henri
guided his investments and kept them widely diversified. He still
went regularly to Scotland, usually after the spring thaw let him
leave Switzerland. If near Paris he always tried to see Celeste and
sometimes got to hear her sing a prelude for some production there.
People had heard of her in England and as far away as Austria. She
was studying English and German in order to be able to sing to
audiences in the Bavarian countries and the British
Isles.

Li and Sophia were both now helping
Henri and Marie manage the many properties they owned around
Marseille. The boys had grown tall and were becoming young men.
Their education continued under tutors hired by Marie and they were
well-rounded indeed for their age. In addition to French, both
spoke German, Italian, Spanish and English. Mustafa had long since
taught Marie a Moroccan-Arabic tongue. She had in turn taught it to
Ian and to Henri.

There had been no incidents requiring
raids on vampire covens during this time, which was fine as far as
Ian was concerned. It was wintertime now and Ian had once more come
to Lausanne to hopefully spend the winter with Anna.

Once again he had bought a small herd
of goats for nourishment and kept them at Anna’s big chalet. He
still used the same ruse of collecting and studying blood samples
to disguise his need for blood during the long Swiss
winters.

It was a particularly windy day late
in the fall of the year. Ian had gone to the barn to draw some
blood. He had forgotten his flasks and had decided to just fill his
bowl first before going back to the chalet to get them. There are
things that happen that profoundly affect lives although they are
simple events, seemingly of no importance. This was one such
event.

Having just finished filling the bowl
he had gotten situated to take a drink from it which he rarely did.
Normally he’d fill his four flasks instead. It was a blustery windy
day and the wind gusted extremely strong , blowing something
against the north side of the barn which made a very loud noise.
The goat which he had just bled spooked and jumped. It bumped the
bowl of blood just as Ian had it raised to his lips to take a sip.
The blood rolled up and covered his face from his nose down to his
chin and was running off of him in rivulets.

He turned to grab for something to
wipe his face and there standing in the doorway was Anna. He hadn’t
heard her approach because of the wind. She recoiled from him with
a look of utter fear and revulsion. Then the fear passed and she
suddenly looked stricken as if something had torn out her heart.
She began to weep and to shake her head from side to side like a
wounded animal. The sounds coming from her wracked her body and
pierced Ian’s heart. He rose and reached his hand out to her and
she screamed at him “No! No! No! You …you…ghoul! Leave my house at
once! Go now! Go now!”

He took a step towards her saying
“Anna, I can explain. I’ll tell you everything.” She backed away
from him and slipped and fell on her back. He came forward to help
her up and she screamed hysterically, scrambling to her feet with a
look of utter terror and turned to run weeping toward the
house.

Ian was numb with the
realization at what had happened.
My God!
What have I done?
He walked to the water
trough and washed his face thoroughly, and then went to the house
only to see his rucksack and some of his bags had already been
thrown out on to the snow-covered ground. Picking through his
belongings, he found his sun glasses, and then he picked up his
rucksack and went back into the barn. He filled all four flasks and
drank the rest and then rinsed the bowl and put it away in his
rucksack. Stowing everything he went to the kitchen door and
knocked. He kept knocking until Anna finally came and looked
through the window. Backing away he sat down on the ground and
gestured to her to open the door. She opened it a crack and he
could see the grief in her face and eyes, and that she had been
weeping.

“
Anna, I’ll tell you
everything you want to know.”

“
No! You’ll leave my house
and never come back.”

“
There are things that you
don’t know about how…”

“
No.”

“
Ah, Anna lass, don’t go
through with this thing. Please don’t do this.”

“
I want to hear nothing from
you again, Ian. How could you be this…this…monster? How could you
deceive Henri, Marie, those boys, Celeste! Your own wife Cosette!
Oh Ian, how could you tear out my heart? You will go now and never
come back! Do you hear me? Never come back!”

“
Anna, please sit and listen
to me for just a minute. Please Anna! I love you.”

“
I have shared a bed with
you for these years and you keep this from me? Leave now I say,
leave now!”

“
Please hear me out, Anna! I
love you. Oh please don’t do this!”

“
You’ve lied to me for the
last time! Leave now, Ian and never return!”

He sat then, hanging his head while
shaking it.

“
I’ll leave now, but you
should know something for Serge’s safety and for yours and the
safety of your staff. Please let me tell you for their
sakes!”

“
What Ian? Just
go!”

“
Don’t go telling this to
anybody for your own sake and for those of your household. I’m not
the only one like this in the world. My kind live here in this
city. If you tell this, you’ll be putting everyone you love in
great danger. There are those of my kind who will come and kill
anyone who reveals our existence. You must hold your peace on this,
Anna. Think of Serge if of no one else. The others will assume that
an entire family knows if one single member of a family knows of
us. They’ll come and kill all of you. Please promise me that you’ll
hold your peace on this.”

“
Just go! Your dirty secret
is safe. Do you think that I want my friends and associates to know
that I’ve taken a filthy ghoul to my bed these four years? Just go!
Get a carriage in the city.”

He stood up, his head hanging, and
then he looked at her and said “My kind travel faster on foot. I’m
so sorry that I’ve hurt you. It’s the last thing I would have
wanted to ever happen. I… Anna… I tried to tell you this at the
chateau, long ago when you first returned there. I love you.
Goodbye.”

Swinging his rucksack he shrugged his
shoulders into the straps, abandoning the rest of his belongings.
He walked away then but heard the sound of running feet. Turning
hopefully he saw that it was only Andre running toward him.
Stopping, he hugged the boy and spoke to him briefly. Then he bid
him goodbye. He stayed walking at human speed until it was dark.
Then he took his boots and socks off and stowed them in his
rucksack. He began to run then, faster than the wind.