The one-armed man stood saying “I am Stefan Devrie and this is my wife Yvonne.”
Francoise nodded curtly to him and to the red headed woman on the sofa and sat down in a wing-back chair across from the sofa. He signed to the butler for tea and fastened his gaze on the man, saying “Proceed monsieur, but please don’t waste my time on this matter.”
“Very well then, monsieur Francoise. Both of us were there the night your brother’s home burned down, and I can tell you that it was no accident.”
Francoise put his finger to his lips as the butler was heard returning with the tea service. After he had poured a cup for Francoise, he left the room closing the double doors behind him. He gestured to the pitcher of hot tea, raising his eyebrows. Stefan and Yvonne both shook their heads, murmuring a ‘thank-you’. Francoise then looked narrowly at the pair and nodded, suddenly understanding that their habitual drink was blood and not tea. It didn’t alarm him since his butler was a vampire himself and could deal with these two if need be. He said “Please continue.”
Stefan related the incidents of that evening as far as what he saw as Francoise sipped his tea in silence. His eyes traveled to the silver hook where Stefan’s hand should have been and he concluded that the hook may have been a result of events of that night. He waited until Stefan was done, then he looked at Yvonne and raised his eyebrows.
She leaned forward and related what she’d seen; leaving out that she was severely burnt. Astutely, Francoise observed “My, but you were fortunate to have escaped intact, Madam Devrie.”
“I was burnt, but have since healed, Monsieur Francoise.”
Francoise said nothing, only nodding slightly, looking narrowly from one to the other of the pair. Finally he said “Why have you come to me only now with this information?”
Stefan said “We only recently learned that our employer had a younger brother who may have been contacted by a mutual acquaintance of ours regarding this.”
“Who might that be?”
“I know Arnaud Moreau, the younger brother of Aldric Moreau, and I’ve been looking for him regarding the sharing of our experience on that night.”
Francoise had leaned forward then, placing his teacup and saucer on the table between them. Placing both hands on his knees he peered intently at the pair, saying “Moreau was here, hinting that he might discover what had happened that night. He was looking for two men in connection with it. I’m sure that he connects them to the death of his brother in Austria.”
The pair looked at each other in silence, and then Stefan spoke, saying “We’ll assist him if we can find him. Your interests and ours coincide, Monsieur. Do you know where he might be?”
“Yes. I suspect he may be in England making inquiries about one Henri and another man called Ian. Please wait here a moment.” He rose and left the room, returning shortly with a small satin purse.
Tossing it onto the table between them he said “That will help you get started. There is many times more where that came from if you get hard proof of who caused the death of my brother. You might start looking at the bank in London known as Edwards and Milliken.”
Chapter 97
It had been a really pleasant evening and was late. Robert and Margaret were quite impressed with the group. She had talked a long time with Marie, Alandra, and Sophia away from the men and had enjoyed herself immensely. An attractive easygoing lady, slender, of medium height with wavy red hair and blue eyes, she was impressed at how easily the only human in that room fit into the family. The love and trust they had for each other was plain to see. She admired Alandra after learning of her achievements in caring for the children of Barcelona.
The men had been listening to Henri re-telling about the various raids they had made on vampire covens. Some of this had been all new to Robert and to Andre. Now they were all together being regaled by Ian’s re-telling of the storm that he weathered in the crippled ship when there was a commotion at the front door. Liri and Celeste came in weeping followed by Louis and Mustafa who shouted “Aimee’s been taken by a vampire!”
In a heartbeat everyone but Alandra was standing next to Mustafa, eyes glowing brightly as they asked for details. Mustafa and the other three had gone up and down the street beating and banging on doors for nearly a quarter hour when some kind soul came driving his carriage down the street. They gave him all of their money and gave him the address of the estate and he had brought them here.
Ian said “Then he knows the way back to where it happened?”
“Yes. We told him that he’d be taking some of us back to the place.”
Ian vanished in a flash but reappeared in under a minute with several rucksacks in both hands. “Let’s go now!”
Henri said “Wait a bit. All of you tell me what you saw.”
Mustafa said “I saw a man running too fast to be human, carrying Aimee. He slowed down when she screamed so that he could cover her mouth. That was how I saw him under the streetlamp. He was bald and had a tattoo on his forearm.” Liri agreed and so did Celeste, who added “The tattoo looked like a mermaid.”
Louis said “I tried to grab them both but I was knocked down.” He still had a swollen lip, which Celeste was trying to attend now that they were in a lighted area.
Robert said “Go now. I’ll take Margaret home. You know where we are if you need us. The streets are dark and Henri can find our home on foot. I am going to talk to several Adepts after I get Margaret home. One might know who this scoundrel is. If you want, I can get some pretty important officials out of bed and on this right now as well.”
Henri said “Let’s see what we can uncover ourselves before we involve the Constables.”
Ian turned to Alandra and said “You stay here with these four and we’ll handle this.”
Liri stood clutching Mustafa, still weeping. Sophia was trying to help Mustafa comfort Liri. Celeste came crying to Ian then, holding him tightly as she wept. He comforted her and hugged her and turned to Alandra. Her beautiful eyes showed the strain, but she was composed well for what had happened. She embraced him and stepped back saying “Go and find our little girl.”
***
They arrived at the place and saw the carriage and the wheel lying some forty feet from it. Ian tried to visualize the event based on Mustafa’s description. They decided to go afoot to Robert’s house then. Sophia and Marie both got into the carriage and changed clothes at vampire speed. The men just went down the street to where it was darker and changed their clothes. In a little over a minute they were racing through the night towards Robert’s home. In eight minutes they were there. Soon they were inside and saw that Robert was excited about something.
He introduced the group to Thomas Lawrence. “Tom, tell these people here what you told me.” Thomas looked wide-eyed at the group before him. There were two strikingly beautiful women with four men. All were dressed more like seamen than what he would have expected to see at such an address as his employers’ home. A tall one had frosty blue eyes that looked as if they could see right through him.
“I didn’t know what to do or who to turn to. I was walking Jennifer home tonight and I was knocked down by a man who grabbed Jennifer like she was nothing. He ran away like the wind and I swear no horse that ever lived could hope to catch him. I went to the nearest constable’s office and reported it. They weren’t too concerned that a tavern wench had been abducted but they made a report and said they would come to look at the place where it happened in the morning.”
“Do you recall what he looked like?”
“Yes. The one who took her had dark hair pulled straight back and gathered behind his head in a silver clasp. He was at the tavern tonight with a bald man who had a tattoo of a mermaid on his forearm.”
The vampires exchanged meaningful looks at that statement.
Henri said “Why did you come here then Tom?”
“I love Jennifer as if she was my own daughter, sir. Sh
e is a fine person and she is not a woman of loose morals, I can tell you that. I got a good feeling the first time I ever met Mr. Milliken here. I just came hoping that he could get the Constabulary more interested in this.”
“Can you take us there now, Tom?”
“Yes sir. I’m ready when you are.”
***
Aimee was aware that her captor was a vampire so she forced herself to relax after she screamed. He ran like the wind and eventually leaped high and landed on a roof and after they descended three flights of stairs she found herself in a well-lit cellar. She was taken to a cell and put down inside of it. There was no chance to squeeze past the vampire and try to run, so she stood there as calmly as she could. Then she recalled what Ian had told her and she made herself tremble and backed away from him. He said “What is your name my little miss?”
She said “Parlez vous Francais?” as she faked a trembling, cowering demeanor.
“Oh, a frenchie eh? Wonder what you were doing on that street tonight little miss. Hmmm; I think I know a man who won’t mind at all that you can’t speak English. I’m sure that he’ll pay handsomely for one such as you, my pretty.”
He locked the cell door and departed. In minutes he returned and opened it, setting a bucket of water inside and a small cloth bag. In it were two apples and some stale bread. He locked the door and vanished up the steps in a flash.
Aimee thought good; he thinks I’m human. Then she heard a sound from the far corner of the large cell. Some thirty feet away a figure moved in the straw, moaning. Aimee went to investigate and saw a woman lying there, obviously in pain. She knelt down and speaking in English said “I’m Aimee. Who are you?”
A very weak feminine voice replied “I…I…I’m Jennifer. I am…am sick. He…he bit me.”
***
The group arrived at the scene of the kidnapping. They thanked Tom then and paid the driver to take him home. He wanted to stay, but Ian took him aside and said “We have the situation in hand, Tom. If we can’t find them, neither can the Constables. I want you to come to the Hungry Eye tonight and we’ll meet you there. We may have to start looking there, but we have some things that we can do tonight.”
“I’ll never be able to sleep at all. I’ll meet you tonight then, Ian. Thank you and good night.”
As the carriage pulled away, Ian turned to Henri and Robert and said. “I think that since there are seven of us, we should split up and just walk the streets near here and use our ears to see if we can hear anything out of the ordinary. At this point, I can see nothing else that will help. If we turn up empty, we can go to the Hungry Eye tonight and see if anyone knows those two or if one of them comes in.”
Robert said “I’m afraid you’re right.”
“Sir; do you know of any other taverns in this area?”
“I don’t get down here much, but I recall two more within a mile.”
“If we turn up empty handed, we could split into groups. Some of us could go to each tavern tonight and arrange to send one to get the rest of us if we spot either of our targets.”
“That’s a good plan. I think that I’m going to get some people out of bed now and am going to give descriptions of these two to them for a possible name.”
“This is your district, Bob. I know that your contacts will be discreet.”
“They’d better be for what they are paid above their salary!”
Ian thought and likely they have anonymous bank accounts too. I wonder if they are in a Swiss bank.
The group split up then and Robert headed off to roust some high ranking members of the London Constabulary.
At dawn, they met at the same place. They’d learned nothing the rest of the night within a mile radius of where they were. Ian was frustrated and had a cold hatred burning within him. “I’m for staying here all day and talking to anyone we can around here. We can describe the two characters and maybe we’ll get lucky that way. Anyone else have a better idea?”
No one did, so they went to a secluded spot between two buildings and took nourishment. Soon it became apparent that it would be a sunny day and that no one but Ian and Sophia could continue without hats and gloves. The others said they would leave to get the necessary clothing and return.
After the others had gone, Sophia came to Ian and said “We’ll find them, Ian. I just know it.” Looking at her he said “I’m concerned that he’ll discover that Aimee is a vampire. Do you know what he’ll do to her if he discovers that?” Sophia’s eyes widened then as it dawned on her that Aimee would be useless as she couldn’t be sold, so she’d have to be disposed of. Ian said “We can’t fail her.” They braced themselves for a long day as they split up.
Chapter 98
Aimee knelt beside Jennifer and dampened her brow with water from the pail. She knew what had happened to her and spoke gently to her now that she was awake. “Jennifer.”
“Yes, Aimee.”
“Listen to me Jennifer. These men who took us are vampires. One of them bit you and you are dying. You need vampire blood to drink or you’ll die.”
“What…what are you saying, Aimee? I…I don’t believe in such things.”
Aimee pinched her then. “Ouch! What was that for?”
“Are you awake, Jennifer?”
“Y…yes, I’m awake.”
“Watch closely now.” She stood up then and leaped up to grasp the rough wood of the cell wall some nine feet above the floor and dropped down again effortlessly. She took off her dress, shoes, and hosiery and leaped up to the highest point in the cell and began to crawl around on the walls like a spider. She even crawled across the ceiling once grappling the joists and beams overhead with her feet hanging. She traversed the ceiling this way so fast that Jennifer could barely follow her movements, and then she dropped noiselessly to the floor as light as a cat beside her. She allowed her eyes to glow then as she stared at Jennifer.
“Aimee! How did you do that? And….and your eyes! They glowed just now. I saw them glowing!”
“I’m a vampire too. They don’t know that and we can’t tell them.”
“Y…you’re a vampire Aimee? I must be losing my mind.”
“You’ll lose your life if you don’t do what I say now, Jennifer. You’re dying. Whoever bit you should have come back by now to give you his blood. He doesn’t know enough to be doing this. I’ll give you my blood.”
“I won’t take it. No. I will not!”
“Then you’ll die. I had to take it when I crossed over. If not, I would have died.”
“He…he said I’d cross over! He said that! Oh my God! He is a vampire and so are you! You are real, Aimee! This nightmare is all real!”
Aimee bit her wrist on the inside and held it to Jennifer’s mouth. “Hurry, Jennifer before it heals and closes!” She sucked in a little. Aimee bit herself again and held it for her again. She took in some more as Aimee repeated that four more times and then held her arm up close for Jennifer to see.
“Aimee! I feel better! I feel warm inside. Your arm! It’s healed! You bit yourself and there’s not a mark on you! How can that be?”
“We heal fast.”
“We?”
‘I have a big family. They’re looking for me now”
“A family?”
“Yes. They’re the best family in the world. They’ll find me. They’ll never stop looking.”
‘You’re part of a family…a family of…vampires?”
‘Vampires and humans, Jennifer.”
“How…how can that be? You all live together?”
‘Yes.”
Jennifer was silent, trying to comprehend what she was hearing. Was she dreaming this? Aimee pinched her again, saying “Jennifer, do you hear me?”
“Ouch! Yes, yes. I hear you. If your family finds us, what will they do?
“Kill him.”
She was silent for a bit, and then she said “What will we do
if there are more of them? I know that this one has a companion and he’s a vampire too.”
“No matter how many of them there are, nothing can save them when my family comes for me.” Jennifer looked closely at Aimee, seeing only a grim expression on her beautiful face.
“Is there anything we can do until they come?”
“Fool them. You have to keep looking like you’re dying. You and I will make believe that we can’t talk to each other. We’ll fool them together.”
She was silent for a bit, and then she said “What will we do if there are lots more of them?
“Nothing can save them now.”
***
The others returned with the necessary clothing and soon Ian and Sophia had on their hats. Everyone’s fighting suit had been brought too, along with their short swords and daggers. Henri had asked for Robert to get pistols for them. He was surprised that Henri wanted two dozen of them. “That is just for the six of us counting you. If you have any Adepts that can help us, please get them. Pocket pistols are best for size and portability, but we’ll use what you can find.”
“Is there a reason you think we need more help?”
“Yes. These rogues mostly congregate in covens. It’s best to go in by surprise with enough people and plenty of firepower.”
‘I’ll get firearms and help by tonight. The Constables are inquiring now about these two characters. Likely you may see them today while you’re talking to people around here. If they question you, just use my name.”
Ian spoke then. “If we find the place the coven lives, we want no one to escape because Aimee or the other girl might not be there. We want to take as many alive as possible for questioning. There could be a buyer for Aimee.” He fastened his eyes on Robert then and said “If that’s the case, I want his name and the names of his friends who are perverts too. And I want your blessing to exterminate every last one of them, sir.”
“If there is such a group, I want them all dead too. But we have to see how well they’re connected first so as to plan a proper operation. I’ll take care of that part of it if it goes that far. When it’s time to go in, I want you to lead us Ian.”
“Very well, sir. We might just as well split up and start asking questions.” As Robert left, the others divided the area into segments and went their separate ways.
Forever Young The Beginning Page 55