Forever Young The Beginning (11 page)

“
Ian, we’re here to help you
to live the best life possible. You’ll be an honored and cherished
guest and if you stay with us, you’ll be a member of our family
forever. We welcome you with open arms, mon ami.”

Ian bent his head and sat silently,
stunned, shaking his head from side to side. The novelty of it had
worn off to when the enormity of it had finally hit him. The two
women were moved and comforted him. Cosette rose up and sat on the
sofa beside him, encircling him gently with her arms. “Ian, Mon
ami, it is all right. This too, this loss must be gotten out, must
be dealt with. You’ve lost much Ian, but at least you’re with
friends.”

“
I should send word to my
ship mates.”

“
That will happen today, but
we have to be cautious about who knows all of the facts. Think long
and well about who you trust with this knowledge. Their lives are
at risk.”

After a short time, Ian raised his
head and wiped a few tears from his eyes. “Ah ladies, please excuse
that.” Cosette tenderly took his hand saying “Ian mon ami, even
grief such as this will pass. Trust us regarding that.” Marie still
knelt at his feet now holding his other hand, and then said “Come
now, we must feed you some breakfast and get to work. Every day
counts and time is our enemy.” She stood and gently drew him to his
feet and led him to the kitchen. She had prepared breakfast, and
had it covered and staying hot in one of three ovens.

“
I seem to hear and to see
more clearly. I can see dust hanging in the air in that sunlight
coming in that window there. I never saw a thing like that
before.”

‘
Yes, your sight, sense of
smell, and hearing will improve markedly. Reflected sunlight will
bother you, and even may be painful. There is no way to avoid that.
You’ll be able to see very well at night too. You’ll learn to
identify game and also people by smell alone. Your hearing will be
a thing which you can adjust with practice.”

“
Adjust?”

“
Yes. You’ll learn to adjust
your sensitivity to be most comfortable with your surroundings.
Humans live in noisy places. You wouldn’t be able to stand it for
long if you imprinted in a totally quiet place and didn’t have some
practice adjusting your hearing. It’s one of the easiest skills to
learn, but is very important. Your breakfast is ready.”

“
I’m not hungry.”

“
That doesn’t matter. You’ll
eat anyway. Be seated.” He took a seat at the oversize oak kitchen
table, one of three in the large kitchen. Marie brought him a plate
with three eggs and three pieces of crisp bacon. She also brought
him a steaming cup of Arabic coffee and ladled it with a bit of
cream. There were strawberries and blueberries in a bowl. He ate
slowly and did notice that though the food was good, it did taste
different. He sipped the coffee too, and decided that he liked
it.

Finished, he looked up at Marie who,
seated across from him with Cosette, said “Now you’ll clean your
mouth.” She produced a carved ivory toothbrush. It was finely
crafted and had carving on its handle. Ian had only heard of such
things. Cosette produced baking soda and salt mixed in a cup and
Ian proceeded to brush his teeth on the back veranda, where a bowl
and pitcher of water waited. Marie watched closely and gave several
instructions. Then after he rinsed, she had him open his mouth and
peered inside. He was made to repeat the process twice more and
then rinse with some alcohol and finally water. After peering about
once more, Marie nodded her head and handed Ian a small packet of
ground powder.

“
You all take
this?”

“
It is dried ground clove
and cinnamon. It’s hot. Leave it in your mouth a while and then
swallow it.”

“
Why?”

“
This way you won’t have the
breath of a pig, Ian. Eventually you’ll always have this odor about
your mouth.” He recalled the foul breath of the vampire who had
bitten him then. “
Imprinting
somehow conditions our bodies to reproduce it, but
some needs be taken from time to time to keep it active, as a part
of us. Cosette uses crushed lilac blossoms. I use crushed rose
petals, while my husband uses spearmint leaves. Now join Cosette.
She’ll take you for a walk outside.” He noticed that Cosette had
already donned a pair of well-fitting long gloves and a
wide-brimmed hat. As they walked to the kitchen door, she picked up
a parasol and opened it as they stepped out to the covered back
veranda.

“
Now Ian, I’ll tell you
something vital to know about the
blood
fast
.”

“
Blood
fast
? Oh yes.”

“
Yes. After two weeks
of
imprinting
,
you’ll be required to do a
blood
fast
. You’ll get no blood for any reason
for a minimum of three days. You will hurt more each day when your
body adjusts itself. By then, the most drastic adjustments will
have already been made. Your body will be making less critical
adjustments the last week. That is why we like to wait until the
last week to do the
blood fast
training. You’ll be in pain, mon ami, and you can
have no blood to alleviate that until your
blood fast
is completed. So be
prepared for it. You won’t be alone for a minute until this
imprinting
is done, but
especially during the
blood fast
training.”

“
I understand.”

They walked about then and Ian saw
that the buildings and grounds were in top condition,
well-maintained. Cosette explained about the help and how couriers
kept the Lafayettes in touch with their friends and current with
their businesses.

As they walked about in the sunshine,
Cosette said “You’re taking this sunshine very well. Some have to
give up by now, according to Marie.”

“
I’ve lived all of my life
outdoors, and much of that at sea.”

“
Yes, we saw that when we
washed you. You are like bronze all over, well, almost all over.”
At this she chuckled a bit.

Red-faced now, Ian replied “Och
lassie. Ye embarrass me again with your talk.” She laughed that
delightful laugh and he just looked away.

“
You’ll always look this
way, Ian. Even though you don’t go out in the sun, the
imprinting
will lock in
your color forever. You might become more pale should you not get
enough blood for a long period, but otherwise you’ll look as you do
now.”

He pondered that as they walked for a
while. “Why so many rabbits” he said, indicating a long double row
of rabbit hutches connected to a spacious central run.

“
You already saw why this
morning before breakfast. Stop here a moment.” She undid the latch
on a cage and handed Ian a rabbit, saying “Get the scent of it,
Ian.”

He smelled it then, and could easily
detect a distinct scent.

She said “You’ll now always be able to
identify that scent. We don’t feed from our cattle or horses. It
wouldn’t harm them, but the scars would cause talk if seen by
laborers or servants or neighbors. Marie is very cautious about
protecting our privacy. That is a thing of great
importance.”

“
Do you drink any other
blood?”

“
Yes, deer mostly, but wolf,
fish, bear and some rodents if we’re in a hurry. There is always
food in the wild for a vampire. There’s no excuse whatsoever to
feed on humans.”

The had circled back toward the
Chateau and Marie was coming towards them carrying a parasol and
wearing gloves, broad-brimmed hat, and a light weight long-sleeve
blouse to cover her arms. They met beneath a great oak and stood in
its’ shade. “I see you can stand the sun this first day very
well.”

“
Yes, Marie. It feels good.”
She arched her eyebrows and looked toward Cosette. “Sit down
quickly, Ian.”

“
What?”

“
Just do it
please.”

After sitting on the pathway, the two
kneeled beside Ian and pushed him flat on his back, pulling off
both of his boots and socks, and then Marie undid his sash and
began to tug at his pants.”

“
Och, ladies, ladies, what
is this?” he protested.

“
Hush Ian; if you can
tolerate sun this well, you must take as much of it all over your
body as you can get.” Laughing then she said “We’ll leave your
underwear on if you like.”

“
If I like? If I like?” He
said, wide-eyed as he frantically held on to his underwear with
both hands. The two women threw back their heads and laughed hard
and long, even until tears came to their eyes. Marie said “Oh, Ian,
you’re such a good thing for the two of us.” Cosette chimed in “I
may never have laughed so since I was a child!”

“
Well by Heaven, I’m glad
you two are having a good time of it!” At that the two erupted in
peals of laughter, falling back onto the grass. Then Marie started
to fold up Ian’s pants when Cosette grabbed them saying “No Marie,
those are mine”, and she made as if to tug them away from Marie,
who caught up in the spirit of the whole silly episode tugged back
on them saying “No you saucy wench, this is my…..my trophy” At this
both of them squealed in delight and just rolled about on the grass
laughing uncontrollably. Ian just sat there wide-eyed in disbelief,
his mouth agape.

About the time the two had finished
laughing, Cosette looked again at Ian and pointed to him and began
to laugh again. Seeing Ian’s face, Marie joined in, laughing with
her once again. Blushing, he finally shook his head and chuckled a
bit while the other two lay there in the shade laughing for the
longest time.

Finally he said “Och
lassies! I thought you said this
imprinting
thing would be hard to
bear!” At this the women began to laugh again. Marie said “Truly if
I’d known that helping another become
imprinted
was this much fun, I would
have been doing it for three hundred years!” The two again erupted
in peals of laughter as Ian looked at the two wide-eyed in
astonishment, even as he began to blush once again.

Ian suddenly saw a carriage in the
distance approaching up the long driveway, saying “Marie, you have
a visitor.”

“
Indeed we do. It’s the
tailor. Best we get inside lest he gossip that we are lunatics.
Quickly now Ian!”

“
Aye. If he gets a gander at
the goings-on back here, he may want to stay all night long!” The
two women burst into laughter again. The three ran into the house,
with Marie waving her trophy pants. She and Cosette were laughing
like children while Ian followed, shaking his head.

The tailor had finished measuring Ian
and Marie was giving him instructions on several suits of clothing
and sundry other things such as shirts, pants, socks, underwear and
the like. Cosette approached them and said “I wanted Ian and you to
know that I’ll go back to Marseille with the tailor and see my
brother. I can stay in Marseille and delay my return until some of
the clothing is done and bring it with me.”

Ian spoke up and said “Marie, you can
cut that order to two changes of clothes and I will be in your
debt.”

“
Nonsense; what good is
money if not used well?”

“
Marie, you’re too generous,
but one thing I do ask then.”

“
What is that?”

“
Please, no lace or
frillies. I canna stand the stuff.”

Marie laughed and said “Picard, you
heard the man. No lace or frillies!”

Picard replied in his nasal whine “as
Madame wishes.”

Then Cosette laughed and nodded to Ian
saying “Who should we bring to see you?”

“
Mmmm, Angus, Li Hong, and
Armando.”

“
Then I’ll return in a few
days. I’ve packed already.”

“
I’ll get your bags.” said
Ian, and brought them moments later. The two walked to the leased
carriage together. Ian handed her a note saying “This is for Angus.
You may read it if you like.” Ian handed the bags to the driver to
stow, and turning to her said “Please stay away from the
Red Dolphin
.” She saw the
worried look in his eyes, and stood demurely, gazing up at him from
under the broad-brimmed hat she wore. “I will. And I’ll return
safely with your friends mon ami.” She then stretched upwards and
kissed him on his cheek. He felt a slight bit of something like
electricity in her touch. “Goodbye Ian.”

He stood in the late afternoon sun and
watched the coach until it turned out of sight. Turning he saw
Marie standing on the veranda, well back in the shade. As he
approached her she said “She’ll be safe Ian. Come inside. We have
something to discuss.” Ian followed her inside the chateau into the
kitchen. She had prepared some beef stew and there was assorted
fruit in a large bowl. The tailor had brought a few pastries as she
had instructed one of her servants to tell him. She said “Sit and
eat now, but first drink this.” It was a cup of blood on a silver
tray on the table. He sat and drained the cup saying “Thank you,
Marie.” Shortly he felt a surge of energy. Then he bowed his head
and silently offered thanks to God as was his habit, and began to
eat the food she had prepared.