Forever Young Birth Of A Nation (49 page)

Now as she ran along the road toward
Setauket, she thought that she would try harder to be more than
just civil to Oliver, being as he was easily the nicest one in the
coven. She wondered if he would want to leave with her when the
time came, but dared not ask him. Suspecting that he had made love
to Yvonne she figured that he was enamored with her as was Grundy.
She would not trust him with her plan for fear of it getting back
to Yvonne and Grundy. Her dread of Grundy was considerable so she
went out of her way to be pleasant to him, knowing that would
please Yvonne and make her own position in the coven more secure.
Things there were as good as could be expected, being as Yvonne now
felt that she owed a favor to Priscilla. She was now in a position
where she could roam freely without worrying about being asked
where she had been. Unlike the others, she was viewed as one not to
cause trouble for the coven and enjoyed a degree of trust and
freedom that the others did not enjoy.

She wondered what was taking Cosette so far
upcountry this night, and who she might be seeing. Could it be her
mate? After some forty minutes of running she simply turned aside
into a densely wooded brushy area and sat down briefly. She was not
going to find her this way, so she spent some time hunting and
within twenty minutes she had caught and drained a rabbit. After
seeing that Yvonne used a small bowl and knife when she fed,
Priscilla had taken the tin cup from its place at the well.
Noticing that Yvonne always took a small mouthful of something
after drinking, she asked why. Yvonne explained it and she even was
kind enough to give Priscilla a generous share of dried apple
blossoms. Priscilla later added a knife and rucksack she had stolen
when prowling through homes evacuated during the battle of Brooklyn
Heights. Many members of the coven did not bother with such
niceties and were always messy, with bloodstained clothing and
stinking breath. Yvonne restricted those to remain indoors in
daylight hours under penalty of death for violating that order. So
far, she had maintained rigid discipline over the coven with the
implied threat that anyone who crossed her would answer to not only
her and Stefan, but Grundy as well.

She was sure that the coven could be managed
far better than it was now, but up until then had dared not make a
suggestion. Pondering this she thought that now that she had some
esteem in Yvonne’s eyes, she would suggest that the others be
taught to use a knife and cup for feeding. She would steal some
shirts and blouses for the others to replace the blood-stained ones
and present those when she offered her advice. If she presented her
idea at the right time the right way, she was certain to earn more
respect from Yvonne which would earn her more trust and latitude
regarding her comings and goings.

Deciding to wait until Cosette returned on
this road, she resolved to bathe in the meantime and then just wait
alongside of the road to see if she might return this way. Then
again, she might have not even come this way. Shrugging her
shoulders, Priscilla thought
what else have I to do now that I
am a disgusting creature of the night? I might just as well be
doing nothing here as nothing with the coven. At least here I have
some privacy.

She found a small stream and stripped in
seconds, jumping in and relishing the feeling of the water as she
washed herself.

***

Knocking on the door of the darkened house,
Cosette reflected on her new involvement as an espionage agent. She
thought
if Ian believes it is a good thing to help the Americans
in their fight, then I am going to do my part too. I wonder if he
ever thinks of me at all. That would be too much to expect I
suppose, being as he thinks I died over ten years ago.

About then she was aware of a person holding
a candle moving through the darkened house. A man opened the door a
crack, holding a pistol pointed at her and saying “Keep your hands
where I can see them. What do you want?”

Are you Samuel Culper Sr.?”

“Who is asking?”

“355”

“Come in. I was expecting you no sooner than
tomorrow. If you don’t mind my saying so, those are men’s clothes
you have on.”

Smiling sweetly she replied “I don’t mind at
all Mr. Woodhull, I mean Mr. Culper.”

He laughed and took her package, saying
“Would you like some hot tea or some food? We have a room upstairs
where you may rest if you like.”

Smiling again, Cosette said “Thank you Mr.
Culper. I must be going though.”

“But your horse must be tired.”

Cosette told him her prefabricated story
then, saying “I have a string of three and I carry oats and water
for them. Two are always just trotting along behind me at all
times. I will switch to another every two hours. There is a good
place some twenty miles back where they will be tethered and can
rest and get water while I sleep. I need to be back in New York
City this day if possible.”

“My word, that is… different.”

“I like riding at night if possible, and I
do stay off of the road to avoid British pickets

“Very well then, if that is what you
want.”

“Tell Anna I said hello, Samuel” she said
with a smile and turned, going down the steps into the darkness,
vanishing outside of the tiny pool of candlelight. Woodhull shook
his head and sat down after lighting an oil lamp and read through
the dispatches. There were updated drawings about changes made in
the cannon battery on the west side of Manhattan Island and how
many ships had arrived and departed in the past ten days, as well
as a note telling that there was a new carrier 355 to bring
intelligence from New York City to Setauket.

There was a second package inside that was
sealed all by itself. He knew that he was not to open it and it had
a special destination too. What he did not know was that it was a
warning of an attempted attack on the French fleet near Providence,
Rhode Island. Without this warning, the British might well bottle
up and capture the French fleet and the implications of that would
be surrender of all French land forces which now numbered well over
five thousand. And of course he could not have guessed that a few
years hence, the French fleet would surround General Cornwallis by
sea as Washington would surround them by land and force the
surrender of the entire British Army in America.

All that he knew tonight was that he would
get this package ready to hand off to Caleb Brewster or one of his
men by telling Anna in which cove he would have his men. She would
arrange her wash on the line in a pre-arranged signal so that Caleb
could know where he was waiting and go directly there. From there,
Caleb or one of his men would take the package across Long Island
Sound to Connecticut where one of Washington’s dragoons waited to
begin the relay necessary for the package to go to him. The single
most important message of the Revolutionary War up to that time
would be sent across Long Island Sound this very day, unknown to
those brave men and women who had helped to move it along.

Cosette rocketed away to the south,
confident that she could make it back before daylight. She had
around five hours and it would not take two so she settled into an
easy pace, not quite full out running.

As Priscilla sat in the darkness of the
grove alongside of the road, she had attuned her hearing as best
she could to its most sensitive and she was suddenly aware of
someone rapidly approaching from the east. Straining her keen
vampire vision she saw Cosette rocketing toward her, passing her by
before she could even get to her feet. She bounded off in pursuit,
rocketing after her as fast as she could possibly go. In some
minutes she had gotten to where she could just make her out around
an eighth of a mile ahead and settled into a pace that would
maintain that distance.

The miles slipped by in the pale light of a
quarter moon and eventually they got to an area where the terrain
was just a bit hilly and the road had several curves scattered
throughout this area. Priscilla lost sight of Cosette then, but
kept the same pace certain that she would again see her when she
got to where the road was straighter.

She finally emerged from the last of the
curves and saw the road ahead empty and began to speed up for all
she was worth to try to catch up. Suddenly without warning she was
hit from her right side violently and thrown down so hard that she
rolled to an abrupt stop stunned to see a black silhouette standing
over her, one foot on her chest, with gray eyes glowing and a sword
pressed to her throat.

A calm voice said “Who are you and what do
you want with me?” The sword pressed in to where it began to hurt
as Priscilla said “Please do not kill me Cosette! I am
Priscilla.”

The sword did not move and the blazing gray
eyes did not waver nor blink as the silence built. An owl hooted
twice nearby and Priscilla heard the wind stirring gently in the
pine trees alongside of the road.

“How is it you know my name, vampire?”

“I... I follow you everywhere I can,
Cosette.”

“Why?”

“I… want to be… I want to be like you. Don’t
kill me.”

“Why?”

“I was forced… I was taken really… made to
be this way. I was taken by Yvonne and Stefan and made to be a
vampire.”

“Go on.”

“I hate my life now. It was bad enough
before, barely living by washing clothes and sharing a room with
four others. Now I am a disgusting thing skulking around at night,
living on blood.”

“Go on.”

“I was without hope until I happened to see
you. I saw you jump up on that park bench that day at Central
Commons and I knew… I knew that you were a vampire too. But you
were different than those of the coven. You walk about in daylight
and you have human friends. You love people, Cosette. “I… I…” She
began to cry then.

“Control yourself, vampire, lest I lose my
patience.”

“I saw you at the gala, dancing with those
young boys and with the men. I saw you with your human friends. I
saw you with Stuart… oh he is so handsome! You were laughing… You
were… You are a princess and I wanted to be like you and not like I
am. I am so miserable and lonely. I have a wretched life!” Here she
broke down and lay sobbing her heart out at Cosette’s feet.

Removing her foot from Priscilla’s chest
then, Cosette sheathed her sword and reached down to take her hand.
“Stand up, Priscilla. I am not going to kill you, unless you are
lying to me. If I find that this is a deception on your part, I
will gut you like a fish and stake you out in the sunlight! Do you
understand?”

Sniffling now, Priscilla nodded, staring
wide-eyed at Cosette, noticing that her unique eyes were no longer
glowing.

“How big is that coven of yours?”

“We had eight including Yvonne and Stefan,
uhmm… but now we number twelve including me.”

“How many males?”

“Seven, including a former British
officer.”

“British officer? Who?”

“Grundy… Harold Grundy.”

“I know that name.”

“He hates McCloud. I think he is the most
dangerous one. He scares me. Yvonne wants revenge against Ian
McCloud for hurting her and she has built this coven for that
purpose.”

Cosette remained silent, digesting this.
No need to tell her what I already know. I don’t know that I can
trust her anyway, but I can use her to spy on the coven.

“Where do all of you stay?”

“We have a farmhouse on Long Island,
northeast of Brooklyn Heights.”

“Does one of you own it?”

“No. Yvonne leases it for us.”

“She has a what, financier, or a
sponsor?”

“I don’t know. She has a bank account in New
York City and she makes monthly payments on the lease.”

Cosette thought
she is being bankrolled
from Europe, London likely. This goes back to the night the
Francoise mansion burnt down no doubt. Ian must have injured Yvonne
there, and I know what I did to Stefan. I was missing for so many
years that there could be newer enemies too. Maybe they are working
together. No need to share that with Priscilla though.

“Come along.”

“I… I can come with you?”

“We’re going back to New York City. I can’t
stay gone. We’ll talk more when we get there. Let’s go” she said as
she bounded away to the southwest, Priscilla happily following
her.

Moreau looked all about the big house in
Paris. When he had left to start the coven in Marseille, he had
left one vampire in charge of the other twenty two. Now the place
was empty, with the blankets and sheets all gone. The cellar was
orderly enough, but there were tell-tale signs of a real battle
fought down there. Every support post for the house had fresh nicks
and chunks missing, and the earthen floor smelled of spilled blood.
The other house where he had stayed with Edwards for a while had
not been touched.

He sat down on the bottom step, pondering
all that he had seen, thinking
my God! They have found us out
and hit this place while I was in Marseille! Had I been here, I
would be dead no doubt. There were seventeen males among this bunch
and they have vanished without a trace. We were so careful! I never
dreamt that they were on to us. For all that I could tell this
Henri looked to be human, no matter when I saw him. We have
seriously underestimated this group. How big are they? Fifty
perhaps? More? And how well connected to have us without tipping
their hand! And to kill twenty three vampires in the middle of
Paris and no one even hears it! My God! Does he control the
Gendarmes too?

He sat morosely turning it over in his mind.
Then he had a thought that lifted his spirit.
Maybe there was a
squabble among the coven and they mostly killed each other. Maybe
only a few survived and have left to go their way. That has to be
it. No one; no group is this good. I could go to the Marquis de
Sade, but what would I tell him? My coven fell apart while I was
gone and to please give me some money? I’ll have to go back to
London and tell Edwards what happened. He is my banker on this
thing and he wants revenge too. I’ll tell him that they fought
among themselves while I was gone. I wonder if the coven in
Marseille will do the same or will they be there when I return?
Surely they will be all right for a while. This is just bad luck
and nothing more.