Forever Young Birth Of A Nation (71 page)

He gave a deep sigh and then departed,
rocketing eastward toward the Millhouse home.

***

Cosette was speaking then to all of them at
James and Melissa’s cottage as the three of them were standing
there in their fighting suits, rucksacks near the door. “If Thelma
does not mind, James, Melissa, and I can move into their home
tomorrow and wait for them to come to us. There is enough room for
the five of you to stay here for a while.”

Rebecca spoke then saying “I can stay here.
My father is away on duty and likely not due until late
springtime.”

James spoke up and said “I have just filled
the pantry and you will have plenty to eat and look… it is far
safer this way. They might take you as hostages otherwise, or
worse.”

Merriam spoke then “How long will this
take?”

Cosette smiled at her and said “We can’t
tell, but I have help inside of the coven and Ian is in New York
City now so it won’t be too long” she said as she laughed while
talking. “I am sorry for laughing so, but I can’t help it. I am so
excited that Ian is here now!”

There was a knock at the door and the three
vampires had their pistols out and cocked in a flash as James
peeked out a window, saying “By Heaven it is Li and Sophia!”

Pulling open the door he said “Are we ever
glad to see you two” as he beckoned for them to enter. Li and
Sophia came in wearing their black fighting suits, smiling and
looking around as Cosette ran to them embracing both. Introductions
were made all around then and Li gave them all an account of their
adventure at the Millhouse home, and finished by saying “I doubt
they went back there tonight, but we can go back and look there
first I suppose. Where is Ian?”

“We don’t know, but he killed Grundy and
that Tory.”

Li said “I hope he leaves some of them for
us to kill.” as Cosette, Sophia and Stuart laughed. The Millhouses
and Rebecca looked on wide-eyed, trying to take it all in.

Sophia spoke sympathetically then “So you
haven’t found him yet?”

With a frustrated look and shaking her head,
Cosette said “No. We know he’s in New York City because he got one
last night.”

“How do you know that?”

“Celeste has been helping me.”

Sophia laughed then and threw her arms
around Cosette happily as she said “Oh thank Heaven! I bet Celine
is helping her too. Li did you hear that?”

“I did and I believe it too.”

“Oh, before I forget, I have one or two
inside of the coven who want out. One named Priscilla has become a
really good friend. She is a small woman, dark curly hair and blue
eyes and she has a mate named Oliver. Oh wait! Celeste is trying to
talk to me now. Everyone be quiet please” she said as she sat down
in a kitchen chair and assumed a blank countenance.

All present stood silent, watching, either
in wonder or in confusion as Cosette sat still, staring at
nothing.

Cosette, Cosette.

I am here, Celeste.

Ian is going to the Millhouse home now! Go
now and you can meet him there. Hurry!

Thank you.

“We leave now! Ian is going to Thelma’s
place right now. Hurry everyone, hurry” she said as she grabbed her
rucksack and bolted out the door, followed by the other four.

Thelma turned to the other four humans in
the room and said “What just happened?” and noticing that Stuart
was grinning from ear to ear. “Please sit down Mrs. Millhouse. I
will explain it to all of you. This may be even stranger than what
you have already learned about them.”

***

Ian had circled the place carefully and
could not find even one vampire so he moved in close, testing the
two doors and then leaping to the rooftop to try dormers, finding
one open. Inside he glided from room to room and in minutes he
decided that the place was empty, which puzzled him
.
He
thought
I could go to the Davis house or to the bank building,
but I know they would watch the Millhouse’s
.
They might have
moved to the other place for safety since Grundy disappeared from
the Stedmans. Could they just be regrouping in one place to decide
their next move?

Deciding that they had to be at the Long
Island location, he rocketed to the room with the dormer window
unlocked and exiting that window he bounded to the ground and
rocketed away toward the East River. Had he only looked in the
closet he would have seen Cosette’s clothing and had he looked at
the dresser he would have seen her hairbrush and comb, but he had
come looking for vampires to kill, and not for clues.

As he rocketed through the night he figured
he would have to steal a boat because he had the full array of five
pistols and his powder to keep dry. As he approached the river he
began to scour the shoreline for a boat of any kind. Turning
northward he came to the ferry which was far too large and heavy
and which was closed after sundown anyway. A longboat was visible
being overturned and pulled away from the shoreline to be safe from
any tidal activity. Examining it, he saw that the hull was damaged
and moved on to the north. North was the logical direction being as
the river was narrower there.

Finally he found a boat about another mile
further north, and throwing his rucksack and weapons into it he
hastily shoved off and began to row as rapidly as possible for Long
Island. Coming to the shore he pulled the boat up well above any
tidal influence, intending to return it the following night.
Shrugging into his rucksack and grabbing his broadsword and sheath
he rocketed away to the south toward Brooklyn Heights. As he came
to an intersection, he stopped to recall the details of the
location of the house that Grundy had given him before he had
killed him. A road angled to the east from the one he was on and he
looked about seeking some sign of the description as he remembered
it. A sizeable stone farmhouse stood near the intersection with a
weathervane atop it which was just visible to his keen vampire
sight. Only one window had any light showing from it. This was one
of the landmarks Grundy had mentioned so he rocketed eastward on
that road, looking for the next landmark.

***

Cosette and the others were past halfway to
the Millhouse home when she was aware of Celeste reaching out to
her yet again.

Cosette, Cosette!

Yes, Celeste. We are running there now.

He left the Millhouse’s and has just crossed
the East River! He is now running east on a road… it is Queen’s
Road!

Thank you Celeste, thank you!

Without breaking stride she shouted to the
other four “He left the Millhouse place and crossed the East River
so we need a boat!”

In minutes they were at the river and
Cosette said “James and Melissa come with me to the north. Li, you
and Sophia go south. First one who finds a boat fire off a shot!
Hurry!”

They parted ways then, all of them scouring
the shoreline for a boat.

***

Celeste sat in the parlor of the Chateau
with Celine straddling her lap, and each of them had their hands on
the sides of the other one’s head, just above the ears. They
appeared to be in a trance, both staring into each other’s eyes as
the entire family sat around them, hushed as they sat on the edge
of their seats.

Celine, we have to watch what Uncle Ian sees
really well now because we have to tell Aunt Cosette where he is
going.

Yes Mama. I am counting the houses he is
seeing as he runs. He runs so fast Mama!

Cosette, Cosette!

I hear you, Celeste.

Look real good when you come to that river
ferry. There might be a boat there to take besides that big ferry
barge.

Yvonne stood in the center of her coven
saying “The reason I pulled everyone away from watching tonight is
that the four who were at the Millhouse place were attacked by
McCloud and he got away. I think he will come back again if we’re
patient, but I want for all of us to be in one place together so we
can be sure to kill him.”

Bartholomew said “We stand a better chance
of getting him sooner if we split up” as several others spoke up in
agreement.

Yvonne’s eyes blazed as she said “We will
all go and wait at the Millhouse place tomorrow night. Four of you
will watch it all day tomorrow, and not you four idiots who let one
man beat you!”

“Yvonne, it was not like that. He ran away
from us and I stayed closest to him but somehow he turned on me and
threw me and broke my neck!” Another one chimed in then saying “I
saw that and I had almost caught him and he cut off my foot.”

Stefan’s eyes blazed as he shook his head in
disgust while saying “I suppose you other two idiots have some
excuse too?”

“Well, no… well, maybe. We both were very
close and he jumped over a really tall hedge and then he jumped
back over it again as we were jumping over it and he cut off my
hand! It took the two of us nearly a quarter hour to find it and he
was long gone.”

“So one vampire got away from the four of
you and you wonder why I want to have all of us together to kill
him? You four are lucky even to be alive!”

Priscilla came to stand beside Yvonne and
said “She’s right. He’s too good at fighting. We have to be
together to kill him.”

“Every one of you has hunted and fed this
evening so no one leaves this place tonight. Tomorrow I’ll pick
four of you to watch the Millhouse place and the rest of us will
split into smaller groups and prowl around the markets. We might
get lucky.” Turning to Priscilla she put an arm about her shoulders
saying in a low voice “Thank you for backing me, Priscilla” as
Priscilla nodded and smiled, putting her head on Yvonne’s shoulder
for a bit.

Over in a corner, Bartholomew sulked as he
saw Yvonne and Priscilla talking. He took out the pistol he had
taken from Lester Stedman’s collection when they had departed from
that house. It was an especially nice piece, skillfully engraved
and inlaid in gold with polished rosewood hand grips finely
engraved. It came with its own embossed leather box including a
finely carved powder horn tipped in silver instead of the tin which
was so common, and also a good supply of powder. There were near to
fifty pieces of shot in a small elaborately painted and embossed
tin and all was custom fitted in the inner case which was silk
lined and padded. The thing looked like it cost a fortune and
likely it did. He began to clean and load it to distract himself
from the anger he felt toward Priscilla.

Just as Yvonne was about to walk away,
Priscilla spoke in a low voice. “Can I have a bit of private time
with Oliver in our old room?”

Smiling, she said “Of course, Priscilla.
Take all of the time you two want.”

Smiling conspiratorially at Yvonne,
Priscilla made her way through the group to Oliver who was talking
with several of the others. Reaching for his hand, she drew him to
his feet as she backed toward the staircase, a sly smile on her
face.

Alone in their room, Oliver came to her and
began to kiss her softly as she pulled him toward the bed. The two
sat down there and shared a long passionate kiss. As Oliver began
to gently kiss her throat and nuzzle and kiss her around her ear,
she whispered “Ollie, we have to talk right this minute.”

Mmmm. Can’t it wait” he whispered as he
again moved his lips gently to her throat, placing little kisses
along her neck and moving his lips lower and lower. Squirming then
she laughed softly and pushed him away, whispering “Look into my
eyes, Ollie.”

He sat up straight then, a concerned look on
his face as she continued whispering “I’m leaving this coven. I
want you to come with me, but if you won’t, I’m leaving
anyway.”

He sat still then, staring at her in
disbelief as the buzz of the conversations of the others downstairs
filtered through the walls.

“I can’t believe it. You are so good with
all of us and Yvonne likes you so well.”

“I know that there is a better life out
there waiting for me and I’ve found it. There are others like us
who love and care about each other, and they do live so much better
than we do, Ollie. I’m going to go and live with them.”

“But there are no others like us in America,
except for McCloud.”

“That is not so. There are others and they
live as I said they do. McCloud is not my enemy. He is Yvonne and
Stefan’s enemy because they were helping a group of Satanists in
France. These others I am telling you about went to free the
children they were going to sacrifice. Ollie, one of those others
is Ian McCloud.”

Oliver stared at her wide-eyed “How… how do
you know that?”

“I have met his wife, Cosette. Oh Ollie, she
is a wonderful person, and she has become my very best friend too.”
She then took both of his hands and raising them to her lips she
kissed them, saying “Please come away with me, Ollie.”

He sat there staring at her and then he
gathered her into his arms and then he whispered “I’ll go with you.
I love you Priscilla. My life would be miserable without you.”

She pulled back a bit and looked at him
then, tears forming in the corners of her eyes as she said “I love
you too, Ollie.” Kissing him tenderly then, she pulled away a bit
and looking somberly at him said “Something is going to happen soon
with this McCloud thing Ollie. Maybe tonight… maybe tomorrow or the
next day; when it does, please stay near me and follow my
lead.”

Coming to the last landmark Ian paused to
peer closely at it. There stood a large barn that had seen better
days. It had a weathervane on it and a really large Oak tree stood
to the left side of it, towering over it as if standing guard. Just
beyond it on the left was a dirt lane that led through a small
patch of trees to a house sitting some three hundred yards from the
road. Lights were visible in several windows.