Forever Young The Beginning (83 page)

“
But Ian, this is more than
I earn in ten years!”

“
Well, put it in Robert’s
bank and invest it where he tells you if you stay in Britain. Thank
you my friend. You’ll never be a stranger in France or wherever we
all are.”

By the next afternoon, Thomas had
dropped Ian and Alandra at the London estate. He agreed to think
about Ian’s offer while they were all gone to Robert and Margaret’s
summer home.

***

The thing was aware of activity
nearby. Sounds filtered down to where it lay. There were
indeterminate periods of silence and they became more and more to
be punctuated by periods of mechanical sounds, grating and
clattering at times, but always muted and very far away. The sounds
intrigued the thing because they were different from the sounds of
the water which periodically trickled through its’ lair. It didn’t
so much wonder what the sounds were as it did just to notice that
they were different sounds than it could remember. It seemed that
the water sounds and the skittering sounds of insects and raspy
sounds of snakes passing through were all that it could remember.
The new sounds were something to attune to, to be curious about.
Curiosity itself seemed to be a new experience for the thing. It
sometimes puzzled over that at the times when the new sounds
weren’t present. At other times of silence, it rested comfortably
and was unconcerned about anything outside of its lair. It didn’t
think that it needed anything at all to exist because it did exist.
It knew it did and the different sounds when they came confirmed
that. It couldn’t recall even thinking about whether it existed or
not prior to hearing the sounds. It rested comfortably in the
secure belief that it had always existed and that this was just
something new.

At the evening gathering, Mustafa
stood up and said “I’ve an announcement to make. Liri is with child
and we have decided that I’m going to cross over tonight.” Before
anyone could comment Louis stood and said “I have an announcement
too. Celeste is with child and I’m crossing over tonight
too.”

There was silence, and then the others
rose from their seats and came to the two and offered hugs of
support. Their wives were both smiling so it appeared that everyone
was in agreement. Louis said “After what happened to Aimee, we’ve
all decided that we might just as well do it now because who knows
but what we may have to defend one of ours again?”

Mustafa spoke then “We both felt so
bad and so helpless when Aimee was taken. But then we were always
going to do it someday.”

Celeste spoke then saying “Liri and I
both wanted to have a child before crossing over, so we’ll cross
over next year after our babies are born and weaned.”

Everyone came to them then and hugged
the women, talking excitedly about their being pregnant. Marie had
already guessed that the two were pregnant but had kept that
private except for telling Henri. She brought wine then and toasts
of congratulations were made. Louis and Mustafa both wanted Ian to
do the honors that night.

He was humbled by their request, but
agreed to do it. All witnessed it, including Alandra and the
newcomer, Jennifer. Later Ian spoke with the two alone, counseling
them in great detail about how to engage in love making with a
human without causing injury.

Little Aimee spent a lot of the
evenings sitting alongside Jennifer holding her hand and leaning on
her shoulder at times. The contact was an extra touch of warmth
that Jennifer treasured as she grew to know these people. She could
already tell though that she was going to love every one of them,
each in a special way. She had her third faint attack that evening
and Aimee produced a flask for her right away.

She had long since realized that she
was in the best place with the very best people she could be with
for what was happening to her. The most amazing part of it all to
her was not its supernatural aspect, but the regard that both
humans and non-humans had for each other. Not to mention that Ian
himself was married to a human. In time, she thought she would ask
more about that. For now though, she was happy and contented but at
the same time puzzled that she could feel that way given her
bizarre circumstance.

The next day, Ian and Andre left early
to lease two carriages with horses for a month. By mid-day they
were all enroute to Robert’s summer home.

The day after that they got into the
training in a serious way. Jennifer was introduced to both hand to
hand combat and firearms instruction the same day. If she was not
involved in that she and the two men were eating all manner of
fruits, vegetables, and varieties of meat so as to imprint them
into their diet. If not that then they were tossing eggs back and
forth, learning to control their strength. She was constantly
reminded to use her left hand for everything that she was taught to
do, which puzzled her until it was explained to her.

The time passed more quickly than she
thought it would, and she understood the reason for the
comprehensive training in fighting techniques owing to the
circumstances of her rescue. The spells of pain that wracked her
body were also experienced by the two men and she was able to bear
it better it seemed because she could see them suffer at those
times too. She developed sensitivity to the sun at the end of her
first week and was forced to tolerate it to the point of tears, as
had been done with the others. There was never an incident whether
it was a bout of pain or a fainting attack that one of the family
members wasn’t there. Andre and Aimee were always hovering nearby
to help her. Every single aspect of her conditioning and body
changes was explained to her patiently.

Aimee took the opportunity to train
with firearms herself with Ian supervising. The entire family felt
that she’d earned their trust since coming to live with them and
none objected. Everyone there was impressed with Aimee’s
enthusiasm, especially Jennifer. The two were constantly together,
just like two sisters, chatting about one thing and another, and
laughing at Jennifer’s first attempts to use a pistol.

Evenings were especially wonderful for
Jennifer. She was used to going home to an empty room over a repair
shop. She had bonded with Aimee very well, and for her part, little
Aimee looked upon her as a kind of big sister. The entire
experience of belonging to this family was like unrolling a rich
tapestry of constantly varying color and pattern. Each little bit
she saw next was both unexpected and wonderful. She finally felt
that for the first time in her life she was where she
belonged.

The imprinting was done then, and she
had managed a four day blood fast, as had both Louis and Mustafa.
It was time to decide whether to all go to Scotland or to split up
and meet back in Paris or at the chateau. Alandra wanted to go to
Barcelona to see everyone because she wanted to go to the Swiss
Confederation for the winter and to take Aimee. So they decided
that after they visited with the McClouds that they’d book passage
to Barcelona by sea, via Gibraltar. They would come to the chateau
in the fall then and leave from there to go to Lausanne for the
winter.

The entire group went back to the
London estate that Robert had originally secured for them. While
they were gone, Margaret had been approached by a very influential
friend who was a big supporter of the opera. It seemed that they
knew that Celeste was in Britain and were begging for her to come
and sing there. They hoped that she could make it because the
opening was in two nights. She accepted and the entire family
including Jennifer was taken to Robert’s box and another adjacent
one that he was able to get besides. Thomas and his boy were
brought along too.

Jennifer was thrilled beyond her
wildest expectations. Never had she even seen the opera house, let
alone been inside one and to see a performance like this no less.
She was in heaven the whole evening and couldn’t get over the fine
clothing that Marie had matter-of-factly given to her as she sat
with Andre on one side and Aimee on the other. Celeste was as
popular as ever and the audience gave her three curtain
calls.

***

Robert had made good on his promise to
look for an investment opportunity. He sat with Ian, Henri,
Mustafa, Louis, and Andre one evening at the estate.

“
I’ve learned that Crowe
& Barnard foundry will be chosen to provide the new cannons for
refitting the royal fleet. It was a sure thing for another
long-favored firm, but I have unimpeachable information that the
favored firm will never get this contract.”

Noting the twinkle in Robert’s eyes,
Henri said “I sense that there’s a story here, Robert.”

Laughing then Robert said “Oh, you can
be sure that there is, my friends.” Lowering his voice then so that
the women wouldn’t overhear he continued, as the others leaned
forward in their seats. “It seems that the owner of the foundry
which was a shoo-in for this thing has been caught in a
compromising situation with Lord Ames’ wife. Now this is no new
thing on her part, but poor Ames has dallied with various ladies
for years, thinking that his wife was ignorant of his trysts. He
has just learned what has been going on behind his back for years
and he is the man who makes or breaks any such government contracts
in the House of Lords. Hell will freeze over before that contract
goes to the original firm!”

At that, everyone laughed a long time.
Robert said “Now you all know how fast juicy stories like this
circulate. You must buy into Crowe & Barnard Foundry no later
than two days hence. The facts will become apparent after that and
the price to buy in will go up. This is a good thing for holding
for a longer term or for selling in say, six months, and yes, I’m
buying a position for myself tomorrow. I can do the transaction
through a friend at the exchange, and can hold the shares for you
for as long as you want. I can sell them for you too. I want
nothing at all for this. To think that I had a coven of eleven
rogue vampires only a few miles from my own house! You’ve done me a
great favor with this vampire problem, and I’ll not be forgetting
it either.”

Henri thanked him then and made
arrangement to buy a very large number of shares the next day first
thing. Ian put up well over half of the money. The shares were held
in the names of Mustafa, Louis, Andre, Li, Angus McCloud, Armando,
MacCarr, MacLamb, MacGregor and Ian. It was a sizeable purchase and
in itself drove up the asking price in one day alone, fueling
speculation that something was afoot with this family-owned
foundry. The best time to sell for the greatest gain was left to
Robert to determine.

Henri then went to get the ladies and
brought them all back into the parlor. He nodded to Robert,
indicating for him to proceed.

“
Henri and I are going to
partner, starting a new bank in America. We’re certain that the
British will continue to be the dominant force in the new world. We
doubt that France or Spain has a chance of ever taking North
America from them. So for those reasons, this new bank will bear my
name.”

Henri continued then. “The British
won’t interfere with an established British bank that is known to
be loyal to the crown. So we believe that our new bank will be
secure even if war really breaks out everywhere in the colonies,
which may have started already. We’ve only to be wary that we don’t
become seen as an enemy to the colonists. We think that they’ll
make a move for independence from Britain well before this century
ends, and in fact this may be starting now in Boston. We want Ian
to establish this bank in New York and in Philadelphia. Boston is
an alternate choice. He’ll take the funds to America when he goes
to do this. We’ve drawn up the papers already and signed them with
both French witnesses and British witnesses at Robert’s office, as
Margaret, Marie, and Ian already know. It only remains now to
determine when. Do any of you have questions?”

There was some discussion
then about the means of communication from America to stay in
touch. Henri then spoke “Robert, Margaret, Marie, and I have had a
code that we’ve used for around ninety years. It works very well
and can be quickly learned by an
Adept
vampire, but would be difficult
for a human to even learn, much less decipher.

“
It all depends on the date
at the top of the letter or document. Once that is known,
any
Adept
that
knows and has memorized the code can easily translate its hidden
message. Marie has already taught it to Ian. He’ll send all
dispatches to Robert in care of his bank. Robert will communicate
with us through Banque de Lafayette couriers.

“
Louis, Mustafa, Li, and
Andre should all learn this before we depart from Britain while
we’re all together. If the ladies want to learn it, then that’s
fine too. We’ll teach those of you who want to learn it tonight and
will practice encoding messages during the next day or
so.”

Everyone agreed that it should be
known by all in the family. Aimee pretended not to be interested
and even fidgeted a bit when she thought that Robert or Margaret
was watching her. She dozed off later that evening.

***

Two days later, Henri took Ian aside
to inform him that he’d sold his shares in the German government
dock and navy modernization effort. He and Ian had made five times
what they had invested in it. With that and what he had done
earlier on Willy’s advice, he had increased his net worth by forty
five times from back when they had first gone to Austria. Ian
McCloud was a wealthy man indeed, and he was helping his friends
and his family now that he was able to.