Forever Young Birth Of A Nation (40 page)

The coven had returned to the house that
Yvonne had leased, but she had determined to look for another place
to live, maybe to the North of Manhattan Island. There was a bridge
there at the Harlem River, named Kingsbridge, being at the time the
only bridge to Manhattan. Yvonne was constantly on edge, fearing
detection being as the population of New York City was under 23,000
people, not counting the British Army. It was not the hunting
ground that London or Paris was for sure, and the task of keeping
the others in line was straining her patience. Between that and
Stefan’s moping around, depressed as usual and also her being
confined with the coven daily, she was becoming short tempered. She
had come to appreciate Priscilla for never causing a bit of trouble
or complaining and always helping to keep the place neat as opposed
to the others who were slovenly.

Stefan could think only of getting revenge
on the gray eyed woman who had taken his hand in combat years
earlier and was oblivious to the fact that he had become a cuckold
as Yvonne had clandestinely paired off with the newcomer, Grundy.
Priscilla had intuitively guessed that from the day that Grundy had
been introduced to the coven.

She especially did not like Grundy, even
dreaded him somewhat, but wisely maintained cordial relations with
him and with Yvonne. The hate that he tried to keep hidden was more
than obvious to her, clearly apparent in his brooding eyes. She
sensed that of all of them he was by far the most dangerous, and
had decided that at some point she would leave the coven
unannounced. Meanwhile she would try to keep up some sort of
pretense of being a responsible member. The thought of drinking
human blood repulsed her beyond anything she had ever experienced.
Yvonne had been insistent that the coven not take humans for fear
of discovery and a massive investigation involving the British
Army. Priscilla wondered what would happen if the British Army ever
left New York City. She thought
with the threat of a massive
military involvement removed, what would prevent some of the coven
members from preying on humans?

It seemed prudent to Priscilla to at least
make a convincing display of wanting to achieve the goal of the
coven leader, Yvonne. Toward that end, she had determined to find a
human who looked vaguely like the description Yvonne had given her
of Ian McCloud. She would then tell Yvonne where she saw him and
thereby seem to be an enthusiastic participant in Yvonne’s goal.
This would give her leeway to stay away even more and she was sure
that Yvonne would support her extended absences being as she was so
obviously seeking to help with the coven’s cause. It would have to
be in a place that Cosette never visited because she did not want
the others to even suspect that Cosette was herself a vampire.

The coven knew that Stuart was not Ian
McCloud and by Yvonne’s orders they knew to steer clear of his
entire group, but to maintain surveillance of them. Priscilla by
now had determined that Cosette was the gray-eyed woman who had
taken Stefan’s hand in combat and that she might be more than a
match for any member of the coven except Grundy. The last thing she
would ever do is to share that with her coven being as she had come
to admire and respect Cosette, wanting to become like her as much
as possible. She thought
how do you stand to be abroad so often
in sunlight, Cosette? There are things I long to ask you. Had you
not jumped up on the back of that park bench so effortlessly and
back down again, I would have never suspected that you were a
vampire. How is it that you are so well-trained? Never once before
or since have you made even a single move to betray what you are.
These fools I live with make constant blunders excepting for Yvonne
and Stefan. What excited you so to do that near the park that day,
or maybe I should wonder who excited you so?

C
hapter 57

“Moon Owl, I have something to ask you” said
Ian as he absently stroked her hair. She was nearly dozing, her
head resting on his chest, one of his hands to her lips. She
sleepily nodded “Uhmm….yes.”

“I can make you become like me. Would you
consider doing that?”

The rain gently fell, the wind occasionally
causing it to spray against the southern window of the cabin,
increasing the intimacy of the setting as a small fire crackled in
the hearth, mainly for light. She snuggled as if to draw nearer and
gave a husky laugh as she said “Will it do anything to make what we
just did this evening less enjoyable?”

Chuckling he replied “No. I will not have to
be so…so careful while we are…you know…while we are making
love.”

She sat upright then, looking somberly at
Ian. “You have to….what….be careful when we….?”

Nodding slowly he said “Yes. I always have
to be very careful.” He reached out and caressed the side of her
face and said “I don’t care a bit. It is as nothing to me as long
as we can be intimate. You have become the center of my world now,
and I can’t live without you. No matter what you choose, I will
love you until the day that I die.”

Her eyes shined with the tears gathering in
them as she kissed his hand and held it to the side of her face.
Nodding she said “I will do it, love. I will do anything you ask. I
want only to be with you now, forevermore.”

He drew her down to pillow her head on his
chest once more and continued as he stroked her hair. “There is
pain associated with it, and it takes around three weeks to do as I
told you before. I will be with you every moment until you are
completely
imprinted
.”

Kissing his hand, she turned her head a bit
so that she could roll her eyes up and look at him saying “What is
imprinted
?”

He explained it to her and mentioned that
she would learn to use her left hand, how to fight with a knife, a
sword and to shoot and load a firearm; as well as how to kill and
drain game to feed herself. “You will learn many things to be able
to successfully masquerade as human while
imprinting
.” He
went on then saying “You will be able to learn to speak any
language in a single day and you will be able to learn to play my
violin or a piano or any musical instrument in a very few days. We
will not have to speak to each other in the French or Seneca tongue
as we do now.”

She sat up again, wide-eyed “Really, Ian?
All of those things?”

“All of that and more. If cut you will heal
nearly instantly and you will never sicken nor will you ever
die.”

“I cannot be killed?”

“Not so. Any of us can be killed, but it is
very hard to do.”

She settled against his chest once again as
the rain continued to sporadically blow and splatter against the
south window above their bed. “I will do it, love. When do we
start?”

“I want for us to be married by Tall Elk
here amidst your people, today if you like.”

She again sat up and held his hand to the
side of her face, tears again forming in her eyes as she said “I am
so happy.”

Ian gently kissed the palms of both of her
hands and then continued “When the war is over, we will be married
in Boston or New York City in a ceremony common to white people.
That will give us a married status in their world too. It is
important, so I want for us to be married there too.”

She nodded and said “Will I
imprint
here then?”

“No. I want you to be closer to all of the
varieties of food which the white man eats. That way you will be
able to masquerade as human anywhere in the world.”

“I do not understand….”

“I cannot get those foods here, and you will
be glad we did it that way. Everything we do during the
imprinting
will stay with you forever. We will go back to
the house we leased in Boston. I still lease it and it is waiting
for us.”

She nodded again as she leaned forward and
reclined against him, kissing his hand as she nuzzled his chest,
and began then to kiss his chest and neck softly as her hand rubbed
his chest and stomach slowly. The storm outside intensified and the
wind began to moan softly at times, whipping around the gable end
of the cabin as the rain beat harder and harder. As their passion
grew, so did the storm outside as lightning began to flash and loud
thunderclaps became more frequent. The two of them were completely
unaware of anything but each other by then as Moon Owls’ soft cries
of ecstasy were drowned out by the violence of the storm.

***

Jean Claude LaRue walked toward the Green
Marlin Tavern and Inn at Nantes. He carried a sealed package of
documents concealed in a special pocket in the back of the loose
fitting black wind breaker he wore. A black wool knit French watch
cap was on his head, its crown dangling to one side in typical
French fashion. He looked like any ordinary French seaman walking
through a port city of France, but in fact, he was an accomplished
smuggler close to completing a mission that he had been told was
vitally important. He had the gold sovereigns well-concealed in the
captain’s quarters of his ship to confirm that fact and was
personally taking the final step of this job himself, leaving his
ship at anchor with the first mate in command for the day.

As he approached the place he checked the
time on the bell tower near the center of town and it was near to
noon time. His contact should be at a table and all that he knew
was that it was a woman who would be wearing a dark red scarf and
would have dark hair. Her name was Saffron’ Lemont and she was to
be here at noontime every day until he arrived.

Upon entering the place he saw what he would
think was the usual clientele typical of a tavern in a coastal city
of France. Near a window however, he saw a woman fitting the
description he had memorized. As he neared her, he saw that she was
an exotic looking beauty, dusky with cascading dark hair and was
impeccably attired, setting her apart dramatically from the
customers of the place. She was wearing a superbly made pair of
ivory-framed sun glasses, apparently staring out the window, but
actually aware of his approach.

He passed a man who looked to be a blend of
Asian and European who was having soup and who appeared to ignore
him as he walked by. Coming to the table of the woman, he stopped
and used the greeting he had memorized, saying “Madamoiselle
Lemont, I believe. How was your holiday?”

“Bon jour Monsieur. The weather was rainy
and I came home early.” That was the sign to be seated so he did
so. “Have some soup. It is quite good today.”

He nodded and said “I have an ingredient
that will make it taste superb” as he surreptitiously slid the
package on to a vacant chair at the same table. He continued then
saying “but alas, I must be off or I will be late for an
appointment. Bon jour, Madamoiselle.”

Shortly after he departed, Li got up from
his table and joined Sophia. They each took the personal letters
and read through them at vampire speed, and then had a leisurely
conversation about some of the things in each one, separating them
from the other package. Looking at that package, Sophia said “That
package goes to the people in Spain, Li.”

He nodded and said “Did you tell me that one
of them would go to King Charles himself?”

“Yes. Ian hopes that he can persuade the
King to come into the war on the side of the Colonists or at the
very least, try to retake Florida and Alabama.”

Li laughed then, taking her hand as he said
“As Ian would say that will tie the Kings shorts in a knot.” Sophia
laughed then, leaning over to kiss Li. “Let’s leave here. It is a
long journey to Madrid. We will seek an audience with the King
after seeing Roberto Rodriguez. Mustafa will meet us there.”

“I did not know that.”

“I just opened a dispatch yesterday before
you joined me and forgot to mention it. Henri rerouted him through
Spain because he is the Lafayette banking contact there and that
will help convince Roberto that this is from Ian even more.”

“Henri doesn’t miss much and I can say that
I have learned so much from him. Ten years ago I was a cook on a
merchant ship and could barely speak two languages and now I am a
property manager and speak nine languages. Life is strange.”

Later as they rode along in the carriage
heading south toward Spain, he asked Sophia. “How do you like the
world of espionage?”

“I love it; especially when I have a
surprise and I get to go on missions with a certain handsome
Eurasian man that I know.”

“If I see him I will be jealous” said Li
then as Sophia leaned against him laughing. She said “You joke more
than you did when we first met.”

“That is from being around all of you
round-eyes for so long.”

Sophia threw back her head laughing merrily.
In a moment she said “Seriously, this is a great honor to me. When
I think of where I came from and look at myself, really at us
today, I am still amazed. I could never imagine my life now without
you and our family. I am so happy that Henri trusted me to do
this.”

“His trust was well-placed, and I will tell
him so.”

“He doesn’t know that you are here, does
he?”

“Yes. I sent a courier to tell him that I
would be with you what with this investigation going on now. I
would not feel right letting you go to Spain alone.”

Sophia said “I never asked you, but how did
it feel when Celine touched your memories of Ian?”

Shaking his head he said “Had that not
happened, I would have a hard time believing what she can do. She
literally looked through my memories of Ian, but she
was…gentle…sweet. I cannot describe it.”

“That is how I would describe it. It was as
if she….her mind…I don’t know, but like her spirit maybe was asking
my spirit if she could peek at my memories of Ian and yes, she was
sweet.”