Forever Young The Beginning (33 page)

Realizing that they were outnumbered,
Ian shouted “Fall back to that hallway!” They stood a better chance
if the others could only come at them by twos, so they backed away
from the landing toward a hallway leading back from where they had
heard voices.

Ian switched to English saying “Marie,
you and Cosette look for the girls while we hold them here!” He
then spun to engage a female vampire with red hair and blazing
green eyes, bounding toward her and delivering a mighty side kick
as she rushed him with a drawn sword. She flew back with a cracked
sternum and three broken ribs and rolled into a mass of flames,
knocking over a small table with yet another jar of lamp oil. It
shattered as she rolled through it, soaking her clothing. Coming to
rest against the far wall in a pile of blazing straw, she lay there
for several seconds, stunned and then she ignited like a torch.
Shrieking in pain, she vanished up the now flaming staircase like
she was shot from a cannon, spreading flames throughout the main
floor as she blindly fought to find a way out of the
house.

***

Chloe saw a man in a red hood take a
dagger from a pedestal where it had lain. He started toward her
nearest companion. She heard a loud commotion coming from the end
of the room opposite where she and he others had been brought in.
The man in the red hood had already cut one of the little girls
nearest to Chloe. She screamed. He stopped and looked in the
direction of the commotion, standing there for a little while
listening. The noise sounded like a battle with loud explosions
punctuating the shouting and screaming. It seemed to be getting
closer. She saw the man nearest her in the red hood with the dagger
in his hand look that direction, and then drop the dagger and run
towards the stairway where she had been brought in. Two figures
were approaching her from the direction of the noise.

***

Marie and Cosette streaked toward the
back. Two really big human guards in black robes came to meet them
with swords drawn. The two cut them down like they were dried
weeds, hurtling into a large room. In the center was a large
pentagram laid out in tile in the cobblestone floor. Near the tip
of each of the five points was a young girl tied to iron hoops set
in the floor. Straw was piled there beneath each one, presumably to
soak up blood. They just got a glimpse of several figures in dark
red robes running into a hallway leading away in another
direction.

Suddenly two vampires came from that
hallway, moving like a flash towards Cosette and Marie. The two
drew their pistols and cocked them in a blur and shot both of them
through their heads. Their momentum carried them past the women to
a large brazier with a hot fire going. One of them crashed into it
screaming, the hot coals scattering everywhere and setting fire to
three cedar posts where more of the surplus straw was piled. The
other knocked over a large candelabra and scattered blazing candles
everywhere including into the straw. Cosette and Marie followed up
and each of them quickly beheaded their targets.

They then turned and ran to two of the
girls and slashed their bonds. Chloe saw a person who was covered
in mud cutting her bonds. Cosette and Marie picked them up and flew
down the hallway where they had seen the red-robed figures running.
They came to a staircase and flew up it finding the door at the top
standing open. As they burst into the room they saw the red-robed
figures running down a hallway, trailed by two black robed figures.
The two male vampires in black robes detached themselves from the
group. They turned and bounded across the space toward the two
women, drawing knives. Dropping the two girls, Marie and Cosette
moved forward in a low glide to meet the pair. They attacked them
without hesitation and fought furiously, their blades a shining
blur of motion. A pitched battle ensued taking only a minute. Their
sound swordsmanship, hours of practice against Ian, and the fact
that their opponents were armed only with knives began to make a
difference immediately as both of them inflicted numerous wounds on
their adversaries even while driving them back quickly.

Cosette finally hacked the hand off of
her opponent just after he had made a blindingly fast thrust at
her, leaving his arm extended for a split second too long. In a
smooth blur of motion she pivoted as that vampire howled in pain
and retreated, vanishing down the hallway. She continued her
spinning motion so as to traverse to the other one and struck his
head from his shoulders with a two-handed blow as Marie was
pressing the fight from her side.

Looking around, Cosette shouted “This
way, Marie!” as she snatched up one of the girls and hurtled toward
a large window. Covering the girl’s face she leapt through it with
Marie following. Shards of glass flew outward as she shot through
it with her precious burden. They landed smoothly on a veranda and
quickly let the girls down. The candles beside the windows caught
fire to the draperies. Cosette said “Hide here. We’ll find you. If
not, wait until daylight and get away from this place.” She pointed
west toward the general direction of the city of Lyon. Then she and
Marie leaped back through the broken window and flashed down the
steps to go back for the other girls.

Ian, Henri, and Li had their hands
full, being as all had since discharged their second pistol and
were fighting with sabers by now. The vampires feared to go back
because the flames had grown so greatly, so they pressed the attack
against the three.

There were five of them now advancing
with short swords drawn. Ian advanced to meet them. This would give
Li and Henri a bit of time to get set up to defend the hallway. It
all happened in the blink of an eye though. Ian met one head on who
would only parry and thrust with his short sword. His eyes glowing
like blue flames, Ian pressed his attack. He had a bit more reach
than the other one though with his saber and a little advantage in
height. Within seconds he had sheared off the vampire’s ear.
Enraged, his opponent roared and leapt at Ian, who dropped suddenly
and whirling and using both hands he slashed his saber horizontally
a few inches off of the floor, cutting one foot off of his opponent
as he passed by. Springing up as he spun away he lunged back toward
his opponent who bellowed in pain, delivering a mighty front kick
to his chest and propelling him back in a somersault into a wall of
flames.

The vampire bellowed again and stood
up on one foot and one leg stump. In his madness from the pain and
his clothing afire he somehow made it up the stairs and hobbled
roaring and screaming through the house, spreading the flames and
knocking over several candelabras starting other fires. By now the
upstairs was ablaze even more than the basement by reason of many
windows being open and a good northerly breeze circulating through
the place.

Two more had closed in on Ian before
that had happened though, and, he backed towards the entrance to
the hallway as he fought them. Li was at his side and making a
lightning thrust, he ran one through, stepping back to escape a
counter thrust. Ian whirled and cut off that one’s sword arm. It
was sticking out for the blink of an eye and was a perfect target.
He paid for it though as he felt the fiery pain of a sword thrust
into his side. He pivoted and instead of backing away from the
sword, he lunged against it and was able to get close enough to
half sever the neck of that swordsman with a mighty backhanded
slash. Pivoting he kicked that one away from him and pulled the
sword out of his stomach. Ignoring the stabbing pain and armed with
two swords he fell on him as he rose and struck his head from his
body. Spinning toward the others, he leaped toward them with a
vengeance. Li and Henri had the last three engaged at the entrance
to the hallway.

Li’s sword suddenly broke not too far
above the handle. He threw the handle at the nearest vampire, and
hit him squarely between the eyes. The vampire bored in, picking up
speed seeing that Li had no weapon. Li simply waited until another
thrust came and darted to one side avoiding it. He then fell back
holding on to the vampire’s sword arm. Using his opponents’
momentum he just fell and continued rolling backwards, driving his
feet into that ones’ stomach as he lifted him high up and over to
go crashing to the floor behind him. Li continued backwards in a
rolling backward somersault and as he came up on his feet he spun
and delivered a smashing front kick to the vampire’s face as he
tried to regain his feet. His nose was splattered across his face
and two front teeth were kicked out. Li bored in on him grabbing
his forearm by the wrist and driving his free arm beneath the
vampire’s upper arm he twisted mightily, shifting his free hand
down to join his other hand on the vampire’s wrist. He pulled down
with all of his strength while straightening his legs driving
himself upward, breaking his opponent’s arm backward over his
shoulder.

The vampire roared as he clutched his
injured arm but Li had already whirled behind him and had grabbed
his head from behind under his chin and had done a blinding
half-turn. He pulled down mightily driving his hip into the
buttocks of his opponent. That brought the vampire arcing over him
backwards and crashing face-first to the ground. Li spun like
lighting and ended up on his opponent’s back. He reached and
grabbed his head and wrenched it around, breaking his opponents’
neck. Up in a flash, he snatched up the vampires sword, severed its
head, and kicked that away as he sprang back towards Henri who was
engaged with the other one. Henri was wounded in his shoulder and
was losing ground when Li came and struck the vampire’s head from
its body, just as Ian had finished off his last
opponent.

They looked around but had to back
down the hallway because of the flames. Henri said “The girls…this
way!” The three of them rocketed down the hallway toward the large
room, but midway there was a loud groaning sound and a flaming mass
fell in front of them, blocking the hallway. They turned and
looking at each other they paused for a heartbeat. Ian said “We
have to try it the way we came in lads. Whatever you do don’t
breathe in!” He plunged into the holocaust at his greatest speed
and rounding the corner leaped up the stairs in one bound landing
in flames and turning in the direction that the other staircase had
to be. His clothes were now afire as he rocketed along searching
for the other staircase leading down. He sensed rather than saw Li
and Henri close behind him.

Bursting into another large ornate
room he saw someone leap out the window holding something. He flew
out the same window ending up on the veranda and saw Cosette and
Marie with four of the girls. Henri and Li joined him and all were
beating out the flames on their clothing including Cosette and
Marie. Henri said “That was a close one” as Ian started toward
Cosette. However she leaped back through the window as Ian shouted
“No, Cosette, it’s too late!”

Cosette bounded through
flames to the bottom of the burning staircase and peered around the
room, locating the bleeding child who had fallen silent. Smoke
billowed around her where she was tied down. Her hair and clothing
burst into flames and she felt searing pain all over her body. She
leaped to the girl’s side and slashed the bonds holding her to the
rings set in the floor. Hearing a groaning roar she saw her exit
blocked by a flaming mass that fell to the cobblestone floor. She
cast about desperately knowing that the other stair way was gone as
well. Seeing a hole near a wall she bounded toward it just as a
mass of stone fell all around it. As she got to it, she saw that
she could still fit into the hole so she thrust the limp little
girl into it and got down into it with her. Both of them were
afire, clothing and hair burning, skin blistering. Just as she got
down beside the little girl there was a deafening roar. One of the
massive chimneys above had buckled and came crashing down through
the floor above. Two broad beams fell across the entrance to the
stone pile some ten feet above her head. She looked up and
thought
this is how it is when you are
about to die.
Tons of stone debris rained
down on them then, and mercifully everything went black.

In the home of Caryn Rochelle in Paris
there arose an unearthly scream that went on and on, then the sound
of a little girl screaming “COSETTE! THE FIRE, THE FIRE, NO
COSETTE, NO, THE FIRE!”

Then a wailing cry was heard as Caryn
Rochelle rushed to Celeste’s bedside. Little Celeste was wailing,
sitting up in her bed. She just wailed and rocked herself back and
forth, her knees drawn tightly to her breast and her arms locked
about them. Caryn sat beside her holding her and rocking her,
trying to soothe her. She somehow knew that this was not just a
child’s bad dream. Then again Celeste screamed;

“
NO IAN, NO! NO! THE FIRE
IAN, NO!”

Celeste wept and wept and couldn’t be
comforted. Caryn held her close and rocked her, stroking her hair.
After several minutes of this, Celeste lifted her head to look into
her aunts’ eyes. “Cosette has burned! Cosette has burned! Oh, aunt
Caryn, Cosette has burned! She’s gone, aunt Caryn, she’s gone! Ian
is burned too! Oh Aunt Caryn he is burnt horribly! He’s dying!” She
fell to weeping uncontrollably as Caryn held her and rocked
her.

Caryn was in a state of shock, but
deep down she knew that as horrible as it sounded, it had happened.
She had already observed how she seemed to know things that she
couldn’t know, and Caryn didn’t trivialize anything this remarkable
little girl said. She sat holding Celeste; rocking her and stroking
her hair.