Coming to him she put her arms around his waist and laid her head on his chest, sighing deeply. “Nothing but give him love and the time needed to heal. I’m so depressed!”
The time passed quickly then as Ian was busy with the boys and with learning three more new languages from Henri and Marie. He had bought a violin from a traveling peddler and was trying to learn to play it, wishing that he had taken it up when he was sailing with Armando. He did get to where he could play slower pieces and rarely hit a sour note after about three weeks. The eighth week was when Anna stopped by on her way back to Lausanne.
That first evening Ian played violin and Anna was impressed at how soon he had picked it up with no one to teach him. Marie played the harpsichord while Anna and Ian danced. The electricity flowed for her each time Ian touched her hand, even as formal and courtly as the dancing was. She knew that she was falling in love with Ian and was certain that he had no idea whatsoever. After she asked he agreed to take her fishing the next morning. It was a pleasant evening of music and camaraderie.
The next morning they got two horses and Ian saddled both of them. In an hour they were at the river and she asked why he didn’t bring a pole or bait.
“I don’t use a pole. I hand fish in places like this.”
“Hand fish?”
“Watch.” He waded in, wearing only his seaman’s shorts and went to a shady part with several logs and lots of rocks sticking out of the water. She saw his hand make a darting movement and it came out of the water with a fish flopping. She laughed delightedly and applauded. He knocked it on the head with the handle of his knife, killing it. He would toss each one on the bank after killing it. Within a few minutes he had six of them. He came out then and taking his knife he neatly and quickly sliced off their heads and soon had twelve fillets to wrap in grass and put in his rucksack.
They rode to a remote part of the Lafayette estate where there was a shady hilltop. To the south the sparkling Mediterranean dominated the horizon. Ian vaulted from his mount and assisted Anna down.
“You learned to ride astride a horse and not sidesaddle? Or did you change later?”
“I learned that way in my country. It’s not such a social issue there as it is elsewhere.”
Peering off to the south he said “I’ve not been here before. This would make a fine place to build a home, wouldn’t it?”
She shaded her lovely eyes and gazed out to sea. “It would.”
She noticed that he always seemed to be despondent and distracted, as if some decision was weighing heavily on him. They began to walk then, leading their mounts. Ian headed to the stand of trees dominating the hilltop. Anna reached and linked her hand in his, looking up at him. He turned his head as they walked, fastening his eyes on hers. They neared the trees and tied their mounts to a low hanging branch where they could graze. They then walked slowly among the old trees without speaking as the wind sang in the treetops. She again took his hand and twined her fingers in his.
“Ian.”
“Yes?”
“I’m no child and I am one who knows what I want.” She stopped and gently pulled him so that he faced her. “I’ve grown to love you, Ian McCloud.” she said, her head a bit to one side and her clear blue eyes fastened on his.
‘Ah, lass. I’m a broken man. I am…. hollow inside. I don’t know what kind of… commitment I can offer to anyone, especially as fine a woman as you are.”
“Ian, my age…”
“Hush now. As I live and breathe Anna you’re a lovely woman and I care not a whit about your age. I… look… I fear that I can’t fulfill… can’t commit to anyone. I would hate myself if I had a part in failing to live up to what you deserve. Even worse would be seeing your disappointment in me.”
“Let me be the judge of that Ian.”
“Anna, no one can replace Cosette, and there are things about me, things that I…”
“I only know that I love you and I can make you happy.”
“Anna, I’m not what I seem to be.”
She reached up and took his face in her hands and stepping close; she drew him down and kissed him softly on his lips. It was a lingering but soft kiss. They parted and gazed at each other. Ian spoke again saying “Anna there are things about me that…” and he was stopped there as she drew his face to hers and kissed him passionately. Ian drew her to him again gently and kissed her again a bit more aggressively, but still very gently. She responded by pressing in closely to him and twining her arms about his neck. Her lips parted and their tongues met, each caressing the other. He pulled her tightly against himself and gently at first began to place small kisses along her cheek and down to her throat. She tipped her head back and he moved his lips down to the hollow of her throat where he could sense her hammering pulse. He traced her jaw line with his lips and again kissed her, this time hungrily. She matched his fervor and moaned softly as he again kissed her and began to caress her. They sank to the grass beneath the tree and made love passionately. Ian was surprised by her fervor.
They lay together afterwards, listening to the wind sing through the old trees and the sounds of larks singing. It was an enchanting time, a time that one would want to preserve forever if it was possible. Her head was pillowed on his chest and her hair with its clean delicate scent lay all about his face.
“Ah Anna. You’ve surprised me lass. I never saw this coming.”
“I’ve thought of nothing else for nearly three months, my love”
He chuckled and said “Three months? What? I’ve been ambushed? What shall I do with such a wanton woman as you?”
She raised herself and letting her hair drape down on his face, she rolled herself astride him and bent to kiss him. “I’ll show you, my love.”
Proceeding more slowly this time when she reached a climax she cried out in ecstasy before slumping down to lie atop him, breathing deeply and shuddering once. She cried as she pillowed her head on his chest once more, and he could feel her shoulders shaking slightly.
“Anna, what is it?”
“I’m crying for joy, Ian. I’d thought that this part of life was past me. These tears are those of thanksgiving, not of sorrow. I’m so very happy Ian, and I want only to make you feel the same. I’m so happy that you happened by that day on the road. Oh, I do love you, no doubt!”
Later they led their mounts and walked hand in hand. Sometimes she would reach up and take his upper arm in her hand and lean her head on his shoulder as they walked. They mounted up a while later and walked their mounts to the chateau. Anna’s hair was a bit tousled and framed her lovely face. Marie noted a touch of extra color in her cheeks and nudged Henri who was oblivious to it. “What, Marie?”
“Look at her cheeks, Henri. And look at how she just shook her hair back. Are you blind? This is a good thing.”
Chapter 52
The next several days were magical to Anna. She now never missed a morning to go with Ian. They moved into his home at the old Tremblay place and spent their days at the Chateau. Ian practiced his violin playing at his own home. They had no staff there, but Anna did the cooking for them and Ian helped. She was happy beyond her ability to say it.
For his part Ian gradually thought less and less of returning to Scotland.
He sat musing one day when he was alone. Although sailing was a thing he greatly loved and he missed those people, he realized that his life as a vampire was truly a good one with the exception of losing Cosette. The boys, Marie, and Henri needed him in their lives and loved him greatly. He felt that he owed them to stay and make the best of things. And what of his good friend Li? He had willingly left a good life because of his love of Ian as a friend. His low tolerance to sunlight would make it next to impossible to again take to the seas with Ian. He would be torn between staying here with everyone including Sophia or leaving to follow Ian. It wasn’t fair to all of these people he now loved for him to leave because his heart was
broken. He would grieve for Cosette no matter where he was. Truth to tell, his affection for Anna was growing daily. With a deep sigh, he concluded that he’d stay where he was, and Anna was no small part of that decision.
One evening they were gathered at the chateau as was their custom. Ian had gotten out his violin and played some lively old Gaelic/Scottish songs and had surprised everyone with one he had written that he called ‘Dance with Anna’. After instructing the boys how to keep the rhythm using a copper kettle as a bass drum and two spoons to make up a ‘Boom-ticky’ sound, he played it and sang the words as Marie and Henri danced to it. After a bit Marie played it on her harpsichord and Ian taught Anna how to dance to it. It was a rollicking good tune and Anna had never had so much fun dancing. The words told a story of a man who danced with a girl named Anna and after numerous verses he and she were grandparents of twelve grandchildren.
They played and danced to other lively Gaelic, Scottish and Irish tunes late into the night.
***
The idyllic days passed too quickly. Anna told Ian that she must soon go to Switzerland or else the passes might fill with snow and there would be no way in or out. He conferred with Henri and Marie, hating that he wouldn’t get to see Celeste until late springtime.
Henri spoke privately to Ian saying “You know that if you get stuck over there, you’ll have to be lucky and careful when you feed. Game can be scarce there in winter time. Snowfall can be twenty feet deep in places. A series of long absences would be suspicious. Domestic animals are plentiful as they are here. But scars on their necks will arouse suspicions if enough animals are discovered that way.”
They collaborated and settled on a plan that involved Ian taking blood samples from a small herd of goats, ostensibly to study the blood. Henri gave Ian the two Pascal’s syringes and a microscope he had bought in Italy. He also counseled Ian on how to place blood samples on the two glass slides.
“Speaking of glass, you must take your sun glasses with you. Sunlight on snow is a painful thing for a vampire. You should take some samples of both men’s and women’s sun glasses. That way we can test the market over there.” They went over the proposed bank partnership and Henri said that he had a document package that had to be taken with Anna. He said “I suggest that if you’re going, you leave as soon as possible due to the weather in the Alps.”
***
Moreau stood and looked over the ruins of the Francoise chateau. He had inquired diligently around Lyon and had numerous contacts in the general area. It seemed that the place burned one night after the servants had been not only dismissed, but told to stay out of the chateau until the following morning. Francoise wasn’t the only one missing. There were six prominent businessmen and officials unaccounted for. No one seemed to be able to say if their remains had been consumed in the holocaust or not. Chandeliers, candelabras, doorknobs dinnerware and other things had actually melted.
There wasn’t one thing to link this to any vampire activity. In fact, Moreau knew that Francoise employed vampires. Were it not so lucrative associating with him, he might have reported it to the Supreme Council. No amount of money could save anyone from their wrath. He shuddered to think what they would do to him if he were discovered as a confederate of a pervert like Francoise. Perhaps it was for the best that he was dead and any link from him to Moreau was dead with him. He had repaid his gambling debt and had resolved not to fall into that trap again. Had the debt been owed to a human, he might have just killed him. But the debt was owed to a gambling establishment which was partly owned by a member of the Supreme Council. He had repaid it without Henri Lafayette ever learning of it. Live and learn. He’d been lucky.
There was a matter of the Mayor of Lyon found dead of a broken neck, found at the bottom of a staircase. The King’s Gendarmes had concluded it was an accident due to drunkenness on his part. The timing of it bothered Moreau, but there was no link to be found to Francoise. The mayor was reported to have known him, but what influential person didn’t? He had even made a cursory inspection himself under the guise of being a Gendarme supervisor checking on the thoroughness of the Lyon branch of the service. There was nothing to indicate vampire activity. There was a broken windowpane in a dormer, but a dead bird was supposedly found on that side of the house at some time before the incident. He almost wished to be summoned to take care of an offender. He was bored by the lack of rogue vampire activity in France; or at least the lack of any such activity that was outside of his own personal schemes. He departed in his coach, instructing his driver to head for the Swiss border.
***
The trip to the Swiss Confederation was uneventful, but Anna made sure that every night was eventful. It was snowing when they went through the mountain passes. At an inn in the city of Lyon they heard the news of how a few months ago the mayor had died falling down his stairs while drunk, and also of a great chateau east of Lyon that had burned to the ground killing everyone inside including the wealthy owner. Anna had remarked to Ian how awful that fire was to have killed so many. She noticed that Ian said very little for the rest of that day. He had been reading a book about the study of blood though. She just thought he was absorbed by it and never gave it any more thought. The ruins of the place were visible from the road to Geneva.
Within three more days they were at Anna’s country home outside of Lausanne and had purchased a dozen goats. Anna was surprised to see that Ian knew a lot about blood and even had equipment which he had brought along for the purpose of studying it. He shared Henri’s book with her and let her see some samples through the microscope and pointed out basic things to her. She was surprised to see what she took to be a scholarly side to him. It was yet another previously unknown facet of his personality that intrigued her so. She had become addicted to him and to their wildly passionate lovemaking. Never had she felt the way she did every time they made love and his stamina in that regard was unbelievable.
One day while they were walking along the shore of Lake Geneva, Ian spied some people skating. He persuaded Anna to stop and as it turned out, she knew one skater and prevailed upon him to loan his skates and pole to Ian. The skates were merely reindeer leg bones, filed, drilled, and bound to ones’ feet with rawhide laces.
Soon he was out on the slippery surface of Lake Geneva learning to push himself about on the borrowed skates using the metal-tipped pole. There was a light snow falling and soon he came over and left the pole with Anna. He began to try to skate without using the pole so he soon had a spectacular fall and Anna’s hands flew up to her mouth as she laughed. He turned to her and the sight of her sitting there, snow delicately frosting the hair that framed her beautiful face was one he wanted to lock away in his heart forever. He suddenly thought of Cosette and all of their wonderful moments like that. Making his way over to Anna and leaning toward her, he kissed her gently. She smiled afterward and tilted her head questioningly. He said “Anna, the sight of you sitting on this rock just took hold of my heart. I am your captive.”
“Are you happy, Ian?”
“Yes Anna, I am.”
“Then you can make me even happier if you warm me up when we get home.”
“Ah, now that’s a wonderful idea. Would you mind if we could stop at a blacksmith’s shop? I have an idea for making a pair of these skates using iron.”
“There’s one not far from my house in the city. We can go there now if you are through falling on this ice.” she said with a saucy smile.
Within two weeks Ian had re-engineered his tie-on iron skate design to where they were fastened to a new pair of boots he had made at a shop in Lausanne. In spite of being heavy, the degree of control and the fact that he no longer had to stop and keep tightening them made skating an absolute pleasure, and he persuaded Anna to take up skating too and had a pair made up for her.
One day while walking to the inn to dine, Ian felt a cold prickly feeling at the base of his neck. It stopped
when he got inside. While dining later it came again. It was not the kind that went all the way down his spine like when he was about to be attacked by a vampire. It had a cold feel to it. He deliberately knocked over a wine goblet with his forearm as Marie had taught him. As he apologized for his clumsiness, the feeling suddenly stopped. He looked about the room casually and couldn’t tell who might have been looking at him. A big man was just going out the door. He was wearing a really wide-brimmed black hat with an unusual feather adorning it. Ian kept looking about the room which was full of diners, mostly men. Of one thing he was now certain; he was not the only vampire in Lausanne.
***
A tall, heavily muscled man sat watching a couple dining at the inn in Lausanne. He noticed that the man clumsily knocked over a goblet of wine. He sighed in boredom and turned away to get his coat and leave. He had heard some idle gossip about a phenomenal ice skater recently. Curious to see if it might be an Adept vampire, he began to nose around. He always seemed to miss whoever it was though. He had followed this couple inside the inn because the man fit the description he had heard. It was always a good idea to investigate anything which might later become a kill order. He once had stumbled across incidents which later were proven to have been done by a vampire who was ultimately marked for death. It never hurt to have advance knowledge of such a one. You never knew when a kill order would come from the High Council. How much easier was it in a case like that to already have seen the target? He thought that he might travel on to Bern soon. When the deepest part of winter hit, it would be hard even for a vampire to travel. His last reported location reported to the Council had been Lyon, in France. He should let one of them know where he was from time to time. Having no Council business to attend to here he did want to check on a possible lucrative arrangement in Vienna. He would definitely not let anyone know he was there though! He needed to get going while he could still travel.
Chapter 53
The winter came in full force and there were days that Ian and Anna never left her country home. Neither one cared. She had an extensive library and Ian sometimes would pore over books for hours at a time. He had found one about nutrition written by an Italian whom he had never heard of. The staff kept the walkways open for allowing maintenance for the animals. Anna noted that Ian regularly kept his schedule of drawing blood and looking at samples under his microscope.
Forever Young The Beginning Page 28