Forever Young Birth Of A Nation (46 page)

Ian chimed in then “Yes, they only do that
around the time of the full moon. They’ll quit in three days and
not do it for three more weeks.”

She stood there dumfounded while the two
looked calmly at her and at each other. Moon Owl had overheard what
was said though and immediately came over and scolded the two even
as they doubled over in laughter when they saw the expression on
Melissa’s face. Afterward when their laughter had subsided James
said “I’m sorry Melissa, but you should have seen the look on your
face. Besides that, it was all Ian’s doing anyway.” Her mouth
dropped open then and the two of them had another fit of laughter
which finally grew to include all of them.

Ian and James dug and built a root cellar
into the side of a bank and both Moon Owl and her mother were made
to understand which crops would be stored there and how to do that
successfully.

While they were there two Lacrosse matches
were held with two other Seneca tribes. Ian and James took turns
playing goal and in both cases the opponents were held to no
score.

The children of the village were entertained
to no end watching the four vampires’ hand-fishing, simply grabbing
fish from the water and tossing them onto the banks for the
children to clean for cooking. This was a thing done at least three
times a week somewhere along the river the whole time they were
there.

Melissa was surprised at how easily she
adapted to fit into such a simple life style. She and Moon Owl were
together constantly chatting and laughing when the men were not
around, and Snow Fawn had taken to Melissa as if she was her own
flesh and blood. The summer weeks were idyllic and full of rich
experiences for all of them, but Melissa declined to feed the
chickens forevermore after that first experience.

***

Andre crawled stealthily along the rough
stucco exterior of a four story house in eastern Paris. Pausing to
listen at each window for sometimes twenty minutes he slowly worked
his way up the wall of the house using the architectural features
of the building as hand holds. Louis worked the other side
patiently in like manner, slowly and thoroughly for some two hours.
Celeste and Jennifer each worked their way up the ends of the house
in like fashion.

Finished, they all met on the rooftop and
Louis tested the access hatch. It was locked from the inside so he
pulled on the hatch until it snapped. The four sat there for some
ten minutes, each with a drawn sword and pistol ready in case they
had been heard. Satisfied that they had not been detected, Louis
entered and descended silently to a door at the bottom of a steep
narrow stairway. It was unlocked and would open and close silently
so he departed silently. The four bounded down from the roof like
four swiftly moving shadows and rocketed to a bushy area. Jennifer
and Andre stayed to watch the house as Louis and Celeste rocketed
away to the south.

At the rendezvous point only a half mile
away they met Li, Sophia, and Mustafa and conferred briefly.
Leaving Li and Sophia to watch that house, Celeste, Mustafa, and
Louis rocketed away toward the hotel where the family awaited in
the Laforge suite. Bounding to the roof from the rear, they entered
via a dormer facing the Champs Elysees.

Shortly they came to the parlor where the
family was gathered. The only ones not present were the two
children and Liri who was with them. Celeste spoke first saying
“There are twenty three of them, and eighteen are males.”

Henri said “Do we know if Edwards or Moreau
are among them?”

The three shook their heads.

Henri turned to Mustafa saying “Was anyone
home at the place you went?”

“Not that we could tell.

“Might they be out recruiting more?”

“It’s possible; seems we will not know until
we go in.” Looking at Louis and Celeste Henri saw them nodding
their agreement.

“So we have to decide whether to clean out
this bunch tonight and risk scaring off the others or maybe getting
them all at once if we are lucky.”

Robert Milliken then spoke “Mind if I make a
suggestion?”

Henri shrugged and the others respectfully
listened as he spoke “We are all here and we have a very good
chance of getting all of them. Who knows if that many will be there
the next time we assemble?”

Louis said “We have two watching each house
now. We can go to the place where we know they are and see if any
left or joined them.”

“Should we keep someone to watch the empty
house?” asked Celeste.

“It would be nice, but we have to have two
of us here with the children. With twenty three in that place, we
need all of the help we can get” said Mustafa.

“Liri will stay behind with someone
then?”

Margaret spoke then saying “Aimee and I will
be with Liri.”

“Then we go now.”

Louis asked “Has everyone checked their
weapons?”

Marie answered saying “We did all of that
while you were gone. We’re ready.” The three young male Adepts who
Robert had brought sat silent. Of the three, only Steven had ever
been on a raid with this group. They were all listening with rapt
attention, having only heard the legends of this clan and their
raids. Now this night they would become a part of that legend.

The entire group had been given black
fighting suits and black hoods. Twin shoulder holsters were
included as well as special belts with three holsters for pistols
and a place for a saber or short sword. Many opted to carry a short
sword in a special sheath hung between their shoulder blades as
well as a saber on their belts after seeing some of the Lafayette
clan so outfitted. The belts included adjustable suspenders to help
support the weight of the weapons

Henri stood then and said “We will send
Andre and Jennifer to go get Li and Sophia. Li will lead us in and
we will follow his lead. Li, Mustafa, and Louis will go first.”
Nodding toward the three young Adepts he said “Our young friends
there will be the second group being as they all know each other.
Robert, Andre, and I will be the third group and the ladies will
form the last group, numbering four. You four stay together as a
unit and do not get drawn away from each other no matter what.
Questions?”

No one said a thing but fourteen pairs of
eyes glowed. Henri said “Let’s do this.”

Fourteen shadows flitted silently from the
dormer atop the hotel and soon were rocketing through the darkened
alleyways of Paris toward their objective.

After Jennifer and Andre had brought Li and
Sophia back they had a brief meeting. No one had come or gone from
either house. Li went to every member and checked their harnesses
and weapons, one by one. Finishing that he said “We each have five
loaded pistols, as well as swords, and knives. There are sixteen of
us and twenty three of them. We know we’re coming now, they don’t.
What we do in the first moments will determine the outcome. Don’t
cock your pistols until we are on them. We don’t need anyone firing
a warning shot accidentally. Shoot for their brain to disable them.
When you have shot, drop your pistol and draw another. The large
dragon pistols are for close in use only. Save them for that and go
for their face or jam it into their mouth and fire. They’ve never
seen anything like what is going to come at them now, so over half
of them will try to escape and not fight. I know that we all wish
Ian was with us, but as he would say ‘be of good courage and we
will win this thing’.”

Turning to Marie and the others he said “You
women do not get drawn away from your group but stay together and
fight as a unit.” He then walked to each one and shook their hand,
embracing each of the four women and kissing Sophia he turned to
the others and said “Hoods on, everybody. Let’s do this!”

Priscilla sat with her head down, listening
to Yvonne as she sat with her. Putting an arm around Priscilla
uncharacteristically, Yvonne drew her near for a moment and said “I
know that you are not interested in keeping company with the males
among us, but I am asking you as my friend to help me here.”

Priscilla sighed deeply and then nodded,
saying “I will help, but only until he imprints. And I want nothing
more to do with Bartholomew.”

“Thank you, Priscilla. I don’t know what I
would do without you to help me with this bunch. At times I think I
shall lose my mind trying to keep us all safe and keeping the
British Army from learning about us.” She sighed and looked out at
the sunny meadow visible from their location. “I can’t couple with
these new males what with Stefan being so jealous and all” she
said.

Priscilla thought
that is not stopping
you from bedding Grundy.
Then she sighed again and said “All
right Yvonne” as she laid her head on Yvonne’s shoulder
submissively.

“Thank you, Priscilla. I do appreciate all
of your hard work here and looking for McCloud so diligently too.
Stay out as much as you please and just keep doing what you are
doing. I will get three more females soon enough and then you can
have your privacy all of the time if you like.” She thought
I
want you to have a mate Priscilla. That will bind you to my coven
better than anything else could, and I picked Oliver just for
you.

Priscilla pulled away then, looking toward
Yvonne and smiling just a bit while saying “Thank you Yvonne” as
she thought
Oh I will keep watching and learning from Cosette,
Yvonne. You can count on that!

She got up then and walked into the parlor
where Oliver was sitting, talking to one of the new males. He
stopped as she approached and looked up, smiling as he said “Hello,
Priscilla isn’t it?”

Nodding she reached out both hands to him,
smiling very slightly. He hesitated and then took her hands as she
drew him to his feet and pulled him toward the stairway, leading
him up the stairs.

***

Ian and James sat with the elders that
evening and all smoked the pipe. The aroma of the fresh tobacco
that James had brought permeated the long house. Moon Owl and
Melissa sat immediately behind their husbands, places of honor for
the women of the tribe. The discussion centered on the neighboring
Seneca village. There was a dispute over hunting rights and rather
than have a war, both sides had agreed to settle the dispute with a
day-long Lacrosse match.

Ian knew that he and James would
participate. The four had agreed that Moon Owl’s abilities were to
remain hidden. That way the Seneca would think that the whites only
could have the powers that the tribe associated with Ian and James.
Melissa was considered as one of the race of whites like Ian and
James and no one in the tribe other than Snow Fawn knew that Moon
Owl had been converted. Ian wanted to avoid being asked to convert
members of the tribe as an adopted son and the only way to avoid
that was to plant the idea that they were born that way but could
not produce offspring with anyone outside of their race.

The idea of vampirism spreading unchecked
among the Native American Indian populations was frightening to
Ian. He felt genuine affection for the Seneca and thought the
deception was best for all concerned. Those of the village who
noticed such things thought that Moon Owl had adopted Ian’s style
of dressing and disregarded her wearing a wide-brimmed hat so much
of the time.

As all of these things passed through Ian’s
mind, he thought of his family in Scotland and then of his family
in France. He felt a pang of sorrow briefly in spite of the warm
camaraderie he was enjoying, missing everyone there so much. A
montage of pictures passed through his mind then; pictures of
wonderful days at the waterfall, swimming together, or making music
in the evenings at the chateau and singing. He thought
I wonder
what they are all doing right now, tonight.

***

Li led the group down the narrow staircase
from the roof hatch. At the bottom of the staircase he whispered
instructions sending squads of four apiece into each room on that
floor. Within minutes they had cleared the fourth floor and knew
that none were up there. Silently they descended to the third floor
and repeated the process, and again at the second floor as
well.

Stopping everyone at the head of the rear
staircase that led to the kitchen, Li whispered “They are either on
the first floor or in the cellar. There are bars on all of the
first floor windows, and the cellar has no outside access other
than a firewood chute.” Turning to Steven he said “You three come
down the front staircase as the rest of us go down this way. If
there are only a few up here, we might be able to take them with
sabers. Don’t let any get past you, and everyone remember, we need
to have some survivors to question.”

The sound of singing was coming up the
stairs to them faintly and Henri whispered “I think they are
celebrating something in the cellar. We may be in luck and catch
most of them down there.” He waved the three Adepts from England
toward the head of the front staircase and waited until they were
there before leading the others down. They glided silently, sabers
and swords drawn and reaching the bottom of the kitchen steps they
split into three groups and cleared the two rooms other than the
Parlor and Dining room.

Finally they regrouped and glided toward the
front part of the house, leaving Henri, Andre, and Robert to guard
the door to the cellar. As they neared the parlor, they heard the
sound of weeping. Signing everyone to stop, Li only glided forward
to peek around a corner into the parlor. Sitting on a sofa in the
large parlor was a young man and a young woman. She was in his arms
weeping as he tried to comfort her. Li beckoned to the women to
flank him and taking off his hood, he rapidly glided to within a
few feet of the couple before they saw him. Holding his saber high,
he made a sign for them to remain silent as he stood over them. The
woman cowered and the man tried to protect her, leaning over
her.