Forever Young Birth Of A Nation (75 page)

“She came in to protect McCloud and she was
willing to die with him.” Staring at the activity taking place in
front of them she was thinking
I wonder what it is like to love
someone that way. How must that feel
! She wondered how that
great of a love and commitment would translate into the times when
the two would make love. In thinking of the physical side of what
clearly was a level of love that she could not comprehend, she
found herself becoming jealous of that in some way. Then it dawned
on her that she had not seen him die after all.
I wonder if he
died of that neck wound and all of those stab wounds.
Her eyes
began to glow as she considered that he might have lived after all.
That little bitch Priscilla! She played me for a fool! I would
have taken her with Stefan and me when this was over. How else did
McCloud find us out there in the country but for Priscilla? My God,
look at what I’ve lost! Stefan is surely dead and Grundy too. I
have what is left of my bank account intact, but we will have to
leave New York City soon enough.

She sat there morosely, staring at the
ongoing activities but not seeing them as she glumly contemplated
starting over.
I will build another coven in time. We could
locate in Boston, or maybe Philadelphia. No one would ever find us
in New Orleans, but it is held by the Spanish. I will need a strong
male because Bartholomew is an idiot. I can do this
she thought
as her eyes glowed with purpose.
I will build a coven that no
one can take down.

***

At the Millhouse home there had been a lot
of questions asked and answered. To their credit, Thelma and
Merriam had remained marvelous hosts, insisting on all of them
attending a celebratory dinner at her home, to be held in honor of
Rebecca’s betrothal to Stuart. Priscilla and Oliver had to restrict
what they ate due to not being nearly as well imprinted as the
others. The two of them were astounded at the varieties of human
food the other vampires were able to consume.

Cosette, Sophia, and Melissa were with the
human women, talking about Stuart and Rebecca’s wedding at one end
of the parlor and the others were at the other end. Ian began to
question Li about the fighting and the two of them compared it to
previous raids that they had participated in together. Priscilla
and Oliver seemed to be especially interested in this, being as it
was all new to them. They listened intently to the matter of fact
way Li described the last two raids in France and were astounded at
the body count in those two raids alone.

“Li, you did well in both of those raids.
Your strategy was perfect.”

Laughing, Li said “I learned it all from you
over the years. Say, how many did you think were there at this
one?”

“I thought maybe sixteen at most.”

“You didn’t think you would kill them all,
did you?”

“Well, no. I wanted the leader and maybe a
few others; just enough to scatter them.”

“Didn’t you say a female was the
leader?”

“Well, yes; she and her husband. She was one
I hurt at the Francoise mansion. I thought if I could get her and
her husband the others would scatter.”

“I remember her now, Ian. It was when we
were in that cellar. We were holding them off so that Cosette and
Marie could get the children.” Ian nodded as Li said “That makes
sense, I mean you know, to get the leader if you are working
alone.”

“I had killed four and had not spotted those
two and was about to leave when I got shot in the head.”

James spoke up then saying “Wait now. We
didn’t burn sixteen. Not even close to that.”

There was a pause then as that sunk in. “I
am guessing here, but didn’t we burn twelve, Li?”

“I thought it was thirteen.”

Li got up and went to the other end of the
room to get Sophia and Melissa. As they returned Ian spoke, saying
“At that fight, was there one who had a silver hook for a right
hand?”

Four of them in unison said “Yes.”

“Was one of the women a redhead?”

It was silent then as the four looked at one
another. Ian spoke then saying “It seems Yvonne got away with two
others.”

“Does that mean they will attack us or maybe
the humans?”

“I doubt that, but we had best ask Thelma if
Rebecca can stay here with some of us.”

Li said “Shouldn’t we check both places to
be sure they have gone?”

“Yes. We should do that tonight. Cosette and
I can go look at the place on Long Island. You four can go look at
the Stedman home.”

“Ian, in France we figured that a vampire
named Miles Edwards was bankrolling the effort over there and over
here too. Henri was also suspecting that the Marquis de Sade was
helping financially.”

Ian pondered that a bit and then nodded and
said “That is Edwards’ younger brother. It makes sense. Maybe the
ones from France, you know, Yvonne and her husband; maybe they
approached Francoise with a promise to find who killed his brother.
Between him and Edwards younger brother there was more than enough
money to finance the effort over there and here in America
too.”

“I would bet that Yvonne and her husband
have a bank account in New York City.” Ian nodded his agreement,
his eyes beginning to glow a bit. He excused himself and walked to
the other end of the parlor. “Excuse me, but I have some important
information.”

The group there stopped, all looking at him
expectantly as he continued “We have good reason to think that
three of the coven escaped, including Yvonne.”

Thelma spoke up and said “Rebecca, you’re
staying here from now on, and I won’t take no for an answer.”

Rebecca looked from Thelma to Cosette and
then nodded and smiled, taking the key and its string from around
her neck and handing it to Cosette. “You and Ian stay there. If it
is empty the High Command will want to quarter troops there. I will
need to go with you though and bring some of my things back
here.”

They left it at that and changed the subject
then, enjoying the day and congratulating both Rebecca and Stuart.
Priscilla was in heaven now, being among this group. Melissa had
given her a really nice dress and both she and Cosette had promised
to take her shopping for a wardrobe soon. Li had loaned a suit to
Oliver and Ian had promised him that he was going to get a better
wardrobe too.

The difference in the way this group lived
from day to day compared to how Priscilla had lived was as
different as night and day to her. Oliver was equally happy to be
away from the old coven, and he had to admit that Priscilla had
been right about everything. He had taken the opportunity to tell
everyone about Priscilla’s part in the fight and how she had
managed to delay things until Cosette had arrived. Ian had
personally thanked Priscilla for helping to save his life and had
welcomed her and Oliver to the family as if he had known them all
of his life.

A month after the fight at the coven house,
Ian and Cosette had settled comfortably in the Davis home. They had
returned to the house on Long Island and had found no evidence of
the coven returning there. That night they had made love under the
stars not far from Brooklyn Heights where they had a view of New
York City across the East River. Cosette had been patient up to
then, but extremely desirous of making love with Ian. She never
insisted nor pressed him on the issue up to then, but was
supportive and understanding just as she knew she would want him to
be should their roles be reversed.

It had been extraordinarily emotional for
her and she had wept tears of joy afterward, as had Ian. They had
lain there half of the night, making plans for the future and since
then had resumed their lives almost as if they had not been
separated for twelve years. Each of them was intuitive regarding
the needs of the other as they had always been, whether it was in
lovemaking or in the little everyday things of life itself.

It was a sweet time for them both, and they
were caught up in the spirit of Stuart and Rebecca’s wedding plans.
She had long since written her father about Stuart and they would
not marry without his formal blessing in any case. All parties had
agreed to wait until he could be excused from duty for a suitable
time to be a part of her wedding.

Priscilla and Oliver had fit themselves in
well and desired to be married on the same day and at the same
ceremony as Rebecca and Stuart. They had asked Cosette to breach
the subject and after giving it some thought Rebecca had embraced
the idea.

It was understood that Priscilla and Oliver
would work at the bank in New York City, and that eventually they
would both be working in a managerial capacity there. This was a
new thing being as women normally did not work in these times often
as official employees. Their roles were normally as helpers to
their husbands in businesses like grocery stores, hardware stores,
dry goods and such things. Ian had picked up the idea from living
in France and seeing how Alyssa and Celeste’s Aunt Caryn had
prospered in their own businesses. He figured that New York would
just have to get used to the idea of women working at his bank. For
their part, Priscilla and Oliver were ecstatic at the turn their
lives had taken in barely over a month.

Cosette had resumed her duties as a Culper
courier, and accompanied by Ian she would periodically appear at
the Green Dragon Tavern for packages from owner Richard Townsend,
alias Samuel Culper Jr. Ian would accompany her as she made
deliveries to Setauket.

What remained of Yvonne’s coven had not
surfaced since the night of the battle and even Ian found himself
not thinking of them as much as he had previously. However, both he
and Li rarely went for more than two days without thinking about
them nonetheless. They talked about possibilities of where they
might be from time to time when the two were alone together.

***

The small carriage came up the driveway of
the Stedman estate, slowing to stop at the door of the manor house
itself. The driver assisted a lady to step down from the carriage
and she made her way to the front door, where two British sentries
were on duty.

Smiling disarmingly at the two, she said
“Won’t you please tell Mrs. Stedman that Yvonne Devrie is here to
see her?”

June Stedman was at the door in under a
minute and beckoned for Yvonne to enter. The two went to the parlor
where they sat down on a sofa, facing each other.

“Yvonne! I didn’t know if anyone else got
out of there alive or not.”

Smiling warmly, Yvonne said “Bartholomew
made it out with me. We have been staying over near Hoboken.”

“So you and Bartholomew are… you know.”

“Definitely not! He is a dunce, but he has
his uses. June, I want to rebuild the coven and I need your
help.”

She signed for silence as her maid
approached with a silver tea service. After putting it on the table
the maid returned to the kitchen and June said “Tea, Yvonne?”

Yvonne shook her head as June poured herself
a steaming cup, adding some cream and stirring it. She took a sip
and then she smiled at Yvonne saying “One of the niceties of having
the coven gone from here is that I was able to bring back my staff.
Now, regarding this ‘help’ you want, I take it that you want my
financial help then?”

“Yes. I know you can’t put us up here now
what with all of those soldiers here.”

“They are going to stay here and there will
be no coven here, ever. I’m not taking a chance of attracting that
bunch of killers to my home!”

“If we kill them, you’ll have no more
worries.”

“Hah! Kill them my foot! I saw enough to
know that we can’t hope to match their fighting abilities. My God,
Yvonne you act as if you weren’t there! Look at what one male and
his mate did to us! And there are more of them to boot. Why, we
don’t even know for sure how many there are! No, there will be no
coven here at this home, ever!”

“So I can’t persuade you to even help
us?”

“I didn’t say that. I do want something;
actually it was a goal of my late husband. If you do it, I will
help your coven financially and I will even get you a small place
to live, but not on Manhattan Island.”

“Well, this sounds intriguing. What do I
have to do?”

“Assassinate George Washington.”

The British merchantman
Ill Wind
rode
at anchor in New York harbor as silvery clouds parted to allow the
full moon to spread her light across the dark waters. It was as if
the moon itself had decided to witness what would happen there at
two hours after midnight.

A longboat was lowered one end at a time,
due to there being only one pair of hands operating the two
windlasses. It was pulled to a place directly under the cargo boom
already swung out over the water, and the cargo net was lowered
until part of it was gathered in the bottom of the vessel. A dark
lumpy shape flitted over the side and down the cargo net so fast
that if a human eye had been watching that person would have
thought that perhaps they had just seen something thrown over the
side. The shape of a man flitted back up the netting and
disappeared over the gunwale, appearing seconds later with a large
bag and again flitted over the side and down into the waiting
longboat.

Silently the boat glided away from
Ill
Wind
as two oars began stroking rhythmically to propel the
longboat rapidly and quietly toward shore. The rowing was
interrupted briefly as a shape was dumped over the side to blend
with the dark waters. Then the oars began to move once more for
several minutes as the longboat finally disappeared between two
ships moored to a pier. Shortly a dark figure rocketed along the
pier toward the waterfront of New York City, melting into the
darkness of the shoreline among the darkened warehouses.