“Ian! Oh God, Ian? Is it you, Ian?”
“Aye lassie, it’s me.”
She ran to him and he met her halfway. With a joyful cry she flung herself into his arms. Embracing her he held her close, feeling the hammering of her heart against his chest. Her clean scent brought back a flood of sweet memories of their days at sea together. “Ah Lass! How I’ve missed you! How I’ve missed you!” He pulled his head back then at the same time as she did and they stared into each other’s eyes for several seconds, then they kissed. Ian thought his heart might burst for joy. Alandra pulled back and then rained kisses all over his face and kept coming back to kiss his lips hungrily as he responded in kind. Drawing back from her he scooped her up and carried her to the bench where he sat with her in his lap. He kissed her neck and let his lips trace the lovely line of her jaw to the hollow of her throat where he could feel her pulse hammering. She moaned softly and held him tightly, kissing him in return.
At last he pulled back from her with an effort and realized just how heavily she was breathing. “Alandra; I’m going to tell you everything that’s happened to me since we parted. It’s going to be hard to hear some of it, but I love you so much that I’ll hold nothing back.”
“Oh Ian! I still can’t believe it’s you! Just hold me and don’t leave!”
“I’m so sorry for the grief that you went through because of what happened to me. I can’t go a bit further though until you promise me that you’ll never tell this to another living soul.”
“Ian what…why…?”
“Your life and the lives of your mother and father and little brother could be lost should the wrong people learn of what you are about to hear. Not even Celita can know because it’s too dangerous for her and Tom.” Is that acceptable to you?”
He paused and Alandra placed her hands on each side of his face saying “Yes, Ian, I can keep this confidence to myself.”
“Very well then; this will take a while but here it is. I was married to Cosette Bouchard in Marseille, aboard Elsie’s Cloud. I lost her several years ago when she died trying to save a child. I loved her deeply, Alandra. She saved my life shortly after I arrived in Marseille.” He related the entire incident of his fight with LeBlanc and of being bitten by the vampire and of being taken to the home of the Lafayettes. “They helped me transition from human to vampire over a period of three weeks.” He paused to let that sink in.
“Ian, I… I… vampire? What is a vampire?”
“A vampire is a being who was human but who has been bitten and infected with vampire venom, and who has been given vampire’s blood in order to live.” He could see her eyes widen.
“But there are no such things as vampires. I remember now hearing of vampires as a child. They are supposed to be the stuff of legends, Ian.”
“They’re not legends, but that’s what we vampires want people to believe.”
“Ian, what… what changed? You seem the same. I don’t understand.”
“We vampires are different from humans.”
“This is so hard to receive. I… I… I’m having trouble understanding.”
He gently slid her from his lap and stood up and laid his hat on the bench. “One thing that is different about us is our eyes.” Here he made his eyes glow very softly, a pulsating type of glow. Alandra gasped and he then explained that he had to learn to control that because emotions can trigger it. She sat silently, wide-eyed in wonderment.
Then he said “I’ll show you something. There’s a rabbit right now over on the far side of your garden eating. I can see him and hear him.”
“What? Where? How can you see that far in this light?”
“We have keen night vision. Watch now.” He suddenly rocketed over to the far side of the garden, caught it, and rocketed back to stand in front of her again. To her wondering eyes it seemed nearly instantaneous. There was a wild rabbit, wriggling in his grasp. He gently put it down and she could see it run away in the moonlight.
‘I… I… I don’t know what to say!”
“After you hear this if you want me to leave you, I will. If you want me to stay with you, I will stay with you forever. I love you with all of my heart and I think I loved you the first time I ever saw you. This is hard for me to do.”
‘Ian, what…?”
“I never tried to come back after it happened because I feared that you would look upon me as a… a… freak, a monster. I must drink blood to stay alive.” She fell silent, and Ian was aware of only the sounds of crickets and cicadas. There it is. What will she do now? He stood vampire-still, waiting for her response.
“You must drink blood?”
“Yes. Not every day, but we must drink blood from time to time to stay alive.
“I thought that vampires were supposed to be things that drink human blood.”
“Some do, but neither I nor my family ever drink human blood.”
“Blood…you…your family?”
“Yes. The others who are as I am, whom I live with are as a family to me.”
“Ian, this is so…so…incredible…so hard to comprehend.”
He stood in front of her in silence allowing her to digest what he was telling her. Then he continued “I know how hard this is to take in, believe me. I could hardly believe it myself when it was happening to me. Afterwards, I felt I had no right to ask you to accept someone like me. I couldn’t bear the thought of you sending me away. I just decided to adjust to my life the way it was. I truly thought it was better for you as well as me. It was one of the hardest things I ever had to do, Alandra. I came to love Cosette deeply and soon we married. I’ve never stopped missing her. She was a perfect wife to me and I loved her with all of my heart. I sometimes thought of you though.”
“You thought of me, Ian? I always thought of you too.”
“Aye, I did. Something would trigger a memory of a time we had shared. That was not Cosette’s fault but mine for not letting my heart and mind let you go. I truly loved her, Alandra. I was holding on to my humanity I suppose and to the memory of you as well. You are unforgettable.”
“I understand, I mean I can see how that could be.”
“I nearly didn’t come here tonight. I had packed my bags after you saw me this afternoon at Barcelona House.”
“Saw you? Where? The monk? That was you? The monk? I knew something was… different… strange about that monk!”
“I was a coward and hid myself from you with a disguise. I was afraid to tell you the truth. Heaven help me I am terrified right now of losing you. I…. I canna bear the thought! Please don’t send me away! I’ve tormented myself with dread of this moment.” Here he broke off and began to weep. His shoulders shook as it all came out. He sank to his knees before her and wept without stopping, placing his head in her lap as she began to weep with him. He spoke as he wept; saying “Would to God that this never happened to me, that I could have simply fixed that ship and come back here to you as I planned.” She sat on the bench and held him, weeping with him and rocking him gently as all of their stored up grief came out together in a flood.
Chapter 73
It was nearly dawn. Birds had begun to sing in the gray light. A cock crowed somewhere. Ian and Alandra lay on his cloak with it wrapped around her. She lay with her head pillowed on his chest, fast asleep.
They had talked until late into the night after both of them had vented their grief. She had shared her grief at the things she had experienced after they were separated at sea. He lay with her head on his chest and stroked her hair gently, loving the rising and falling rhythm of her breathing. Her hair gave off an intoxicating scent and the feel of her heartbeat was a constant lovely reminder of how near she was. Finally he woke her gently by kissing her forehead, then her nose then her ear and nuzzling her neck. She stirred and stretched and then clung to him tightly, snuggling closer.
“Alandra; we’d best get you into the hous
e and into your bed before your parents or the staff sees us. I can come to the door in maybe three hours and pretend that I just got here.”
“Mmmmm; if the King himself stood here I would send him away.” She said as she snuggled closer.
“Come Lass, we must be up and about. There is a wedding to prepare for.” He gently laid her aside, stood and stooped, slowly picking her up as if she weighed nothing. Carrying her to the house he set her on her feet at the door. Opening the door she simply took his hand and pulled him into the kitchen. She led him through the dining hall into the spacious parlor and to a large sofa and said “Please sit here and wait.” Standing close to him she pulled his head down and gave him a soft kiss. His head swam a bit as he sat down, even as she ran quickly to her room. It seemed like only minutes when she returned. Her hair was brushed and in a ponytail and she was wearing tan colored pantaloons, boots and a loose white top with a high collar and bell sleeves. She sat down with him and leaned over onto his shoulder, while twining her fingers in his. Soon her mother came through on her way to the kitchen.
“Good morning Mama. We have company. Forgive me, but I have asked him to come in. I believe that you and Papa should meet the man I love.”
***
The waves parted rhythmically for Elsie’s Cloud as she passed through the Strait of Gibraltar. Angus McCloud looked aloft and saw the Scottish Red Ensign next to the Union Jack and remembered that he had gotten out his Scottish registry papers and had hidden the Dutch ones away with the Dutch flag. He still had the letter from the Ambassador Vasquez formally thanking him, and also a letter from the royal family thanking him for doing a good deed in the name of the commonwealth of Britain. He would change over the flag and papers at night when he approached French waters. Damn politics and damn politicians! If these idiotic kings would spend just half of the money improving their countries that they do fighting each other how much better would the world be?
He had decided to buy wine again in Marseille as long as he was going to Barcelona. It would be good to visit Lorn Barnes again too. He wondered if Lorn had any more children and if Ian would hear of the wedding and try to make it. He would send word to the chateau once they got to Marseille. It would be wonderful to catch up with everyone there
He thought of Ian then. Bad turn of events, him losing Cosette. He remembered how bad it was for his entire household to hear of it. They all had really loved her. What a fine lady and what a perfect match for Ian being the same as he and all. So my nephew is a banker now. Who would ever have thought that would happen? And he’s a successful one to boot. He sure has had bad luck keeping women though. Anna was a lovely lady and they had seemed so happy. Ian had told him about the accidental blood spilling. Damned bad turn of events, just when he was starting to recover from losing Cosette. I had hopes that they’d marry. I hope he’s in Barcelona for this wedding.
***
“Tom, there is someone out here who wants to see you.” said Alandra. Tom put down his hammer and came out to the main receiving room and just stared dumfounded.
“Hello, Tom. How do you like that little house up there on the hill?”
“Ian! By Heaven it is you after all! Oh this is a bonny fine turn of events! He ran to Ian and they gave each other bear hugs and slapped each other on their backs. “Let me find Celita.” And he turned, running through the place towards the kitchen. Soon he returned with Celita and she ran to Ian and hugged him and kissed him on both cheeks. “I’m so happy you came, Ian. Thank you for our house. It’s just what I always wanted and is so close to our work here.”
“Why Celita, you now speak English as well as Alandra does.”
“Yes, I studied with her when she took instruction. We learned together.”
Ian turned to Alandra who smiled sweetly at him. Dear Lord I could fall into those eyes and be lost, just like with Cosette.
“What is it, Ian?”
“Ah Lass, it’s just the beauty of your eyes. They’ve always captivated me. I can still recall the first time I laid eyes on you. I thought my heart might stop at your beauty, and especially your eyes.” He leaned down and kissed her tenderly.
“And I thought you looked like a pirate, but oh, such a handsome one!” Everyone laughed at that. Alandra took Ian on a tour of the facility. When they were through he asked her about a little girl who looked especially bad. Alandra said “She’s getting weaker it seems. Nothing has worked.”
Ian said “I have an idea, but we’ll talk of it later. Do you think you could get most of the children into the dining hall?
“Yes, we could get all of them into it and even little Rosita. We can carry her there. Why do you ask?”
“I thought that if Tom could get his mandolin and if I could borrow a violin, we might play some music for the children this evening after their supper.”
“Ian, that’s a wonderful idea. I’ll send Celita. The neighbor who lives next to their new house has one and I’m sure we can borrow it.”
“I’m going to need a kettle, two spoons, and a padded stick. I will make the stick, and you will find the other things. This will be fun.”
The evening arrived and the children were all in the main dining hall. Ian merely accompanied Tom as he played and sung a medley of Spanish favorites.
As they played, Ian thought sometimes being a vampire does have its advantages realizing that he could never hope to play like that in his lifetime if he was human. He also did an instrumental version of ‘Dance With Anna’, the song he composed and even substituted ‘Alandra’ for ‘Anna’ and sung it in Spanish.
Alandra’s parents walked in the door, smiling and waving to the children who all smiled and waved back.
Later when the children were in bed, Ian and Alandra strolled along the seashore in the moonlight. “Ian that was wonderful tonight. The children loved it so.”
“I love children. You know that now I can never have any. We vampires never age, but we’re all sterile.”
“Yes.”
“There are other things about me that I should tell you. I’ve killed many vampires. I have killed men too.”
“You killed men the day you saved Celita and me.”
“Yes, but then I was human. I have killed some men since then. I want nothing to be between us. Our kind has a governing body of sorts. They monitor events in Europe and they send vampires to kill other vampires who do such things as that.”
“Isn’t that a good thing?”
“Yes. But they also will kill those who insist on telling others about our existence. I’ve helped them to kill a coven of vampires in another country. They sent especially for me and I did it willingly. We saved three children that night. It wasn’t the first time I’ve killed vampires to protect their victims.”
“Ian, did they ask you to kill humans?”
“No. I won’t do that for them either. I’ve killed humans who abused children. They were disgusting people!” They had circled back to Barcelona House by then and he stopped her, saying “Alandra, I killed Carlos Vasquez. I murdered him, really.”
She stopped then. “Ian we hear that it was a drunken bald man who had a golden earring and that it was a fair fight.”
“It wasn’t a fair fight, Alandra. But that cockroach deserved to die. Please come to the kitchen with me.”
Once there, he took a knife and said “Now watch closely.” as he cut the inside of his arm. He put the knife down and met her eyes. “Look, Alandra.” He took a towel and wiped the blood away and as she looked at it, the wound closed before her eyes. She gasped and raised her eyes to his.
“That’s why we’re hard to kill, Alandra.” My hair grew back overnight. I’d shaved my head every other day for over a week and walked around in that market waiting for Carlos to show up. Every other day I would shave it again before going out wearing these.” He pulled the sun glasses from his pocket and put them on. She stared at him
, still wide-eyed at all of it, and then oddly she came to him with a serious look, taking his face between her hands. “I’m glad that serpent died. We heard that it was most humiliating the way it happened.”
“It was at that. I wanted you to know that too. There is another reason for me telling you this tonight. Rosita is dying. I think I might be able to stop that.”
“How can you?”
Ian explained what he did in Lausanne for Andre.
“The boy is still alive after having the wasting disease that many years ago?”
“Yes.”
She seemed to be thinking about it, and then she said “Do you want to try that on Rosita?”
“No. I want to make her a small amount of soup, and after it cools to close to blood temperature to add a bit of my blood to it. It can’t hurt her, and it might just heal her. I’d like to try it tonight.”
She stared at him wordlessly for a moment. Then she said “Let’s make some soup for Rosita.”
Chapter 74
Alyssa looked at the note on the bouquet and smiled. It was another one from Damien Girard. She really liked Damien. He was the son of a textiles manufacturer and would one day run Girard Textiles. Not nobility, but wealthy merchant class, like Caryn Rochelle and Alyssa herself. She couldn’t help but think of the great advantage of having access to a textile plant for her career in fashion design. She could easily branch out into the actual making of clothing on a broad scale, not just as custom made items for the wealthy.
She mused the merchant’s class is what Damien and I are. We’re emerging now in Europe, and we’ll become buyers of more mass-produced clothing as opposed to the expensive custom clothing that I make and sell now to the noble class. The Alyssa name cannot be associated with that kind of clothing. I must have a new name for it in order not to offend my wealthy clients. The possibilities are endless. I wonder if Caryn would be interested in joining in with me in this new venture. If so, I won’t work for her, but she’d work for me. That might not be well-received. Maybe she should just stay where she is as a premiere producer of custom fashions after all. I’m fortunate indeed to have been born French. Women in business would be looked down upon in Britain or in Spain in these times. At least here in France we’re not shunned for having a head for business and being good at it. I’ve been fortunate indeed and in no small part due to the Lafayettes. I will owe them for my success forever.