The vampire the vampire.., p.34
The Vampire (THE VAMPIRE Book 1), page 34
“Je suis seule a nouveau, Delphine.” He spoke the words aloud but softly and with a measure and depth of sadness he never allowed himself to show to anyone. “Alone. I have no choice but to go on even though I scarcely have the heart for it.”
He began to recite in French a poem they had memorized together as children: Larmes des anges, about the power of the tears of angels. Delphine thought they might need to call upon the power of such angels one day, and she thought it best to know how one might reach them. Augere indulged her; she was only nine at the time and he was the older brother; her protector and her constant companion.
They had kept the poem a secret between them. Even as children they realized their mother’s superstitions about angels seemed unreasonable. Her gypsy leanings were full of drama and she was often given to spells of melancholy. It distressed her when people remarked how beautiful her children were, and she became more frightened of her children attracting unwanted attention after the death of her oldest child, Amandine. In particular she had become fearful of them drawing the attention of such beings as angels. She had often warned Laurent and Delphine “the envy of angels is not something to be desired. They will appear to grant your wish but may do so for spite, or out of jealousy or for their own purposes.” And so he Delphine had grown up with a fear of such creatures, as if they were quite real. But in the weeks before she died, before anyone knew how ill Delphine really was, she told him of an encounter with “un somber ange qui apparait comme un etre de lumiere et qui a le pouvoir de conferer la vie eternelle.” The words uttered so long ago, and all but forgotten amidst all the events that had transpired since, often came back to haunt him now: a dark angel who appears as a being of light and who has the power to bestow eternal life. He had never shared these words with anyone else. They had seemed at the time naught but the ravings of a child who was probably already doomed by illness.
He sat alone now in near darkness, in a black soft fabric upholstered chair alongside the table shrine, thinking. For a long time he had not been able to unravel the mystery of those words. But in time they had come to have a permanently chilling meaning for him. At times he would dwell on this and at other times push such thoughts away.
“One full of emotion; intelligence; charming and entertaining this one was, Delphine. Something to draw near and absorb meaning from and try to experience what the present world is all about and even in its horrible state, what it has to offer. Now, gone, and such as yourself, all but lost to me. Though I feel the permanence of it may yet remain to be seen. It is I who decides.”
By his will, he believed, he could reverse it. But such gain meant little to him when it had to be forced.
****
On Tuesday morning, several members of the Genier law firm were gathered at their office in the French Quarter. They rarely used their office for such meetings, but the group expected today was a small one. They were still awaiting the arrival of Allen Genier, who had flown in late the evening before, and Mr. Augere, who had arrived in New Orleans early Sunday evening.
James had been in fairly regular contact with Allen over the past forty-eight hours, but he had been unable to speak with Augere except once, and then just briefly. Which was rather unusual, given the circumstances. And during that quick conversation, Augere’s only terse comment was that he would attend the debriefing.
The events that had preceded and necessitated this debriefing were somewhat unusual for most of them. In the twenty-five years James had worked closely with Augere, there had been only the one assistant during that long interval though James was also acquainted with that assistant’s predecessors, three to be exact, who were still living. Augere had lost other assistants before, in the distant past, for various reasons, but none of those was within recent memory. Those who had left were known to James, but he had not had an actual part in the process of them leaving. Not like this time. He had had to consult their firm’s policy on this. He consulted the Archives as well, to see how Augere had handled these kinds of things. The Archives had not been much help in this situation. This case, as did the other ones, had its own unique circumstances.
James was standing near the doorway to the meeting room speaking with Allen when Augere arrived. James interrupted his conversation to approach Augere. “Can I have a word with you please—”
“Not now. After.” Augere walked briskly past him and for several moments he stood at the round table behind what would be, whether here or elsewhere, his designated place, next to James. He was taking in all who were present, but without actually looking at any of them. Then he sat down.
Augere’s abruptness, a rare rebuff between the two of them, was quickly forgiven by James. The last forty-eight hours had been highly stressful for all of them. Scarcely anyone knew better than James just how difficult Augere could be at times and occasionally there might be short lived tension between the two of them. This moment was too soon to determine Augere’s mood: angry? Upset? Indifferent? Whatever it was James hoped to get through the meeting quickly with a minimum of discomfort all around.
James began the proceedings by entering, for the purpose of the minutes, which his assistant Mariette recorded, the names of everyone present. Besides himself, Allen, Augere and Mariette, there was Sean Genier; Chanel Genier, from accounting; Charles Genier, attorney; Adam Genier, archive/record keeping as well as technical support; Ryan Genier, a law school student, who was James’ nephew and who, along with his cousins Nicholas and Farren Genier, also present, had newly gained positions within the company. All of them had already acknowledged and signed the requisite confidentiality agreements, regarding Augere in particular. Relatively few people, even among the inner circle of family, knew the full truth about Augere. The presence today of the three newest members of the firm meant they were forever restrained from revealing any part of Augere’s secret to the world. They understood their family took this oath very seriously. But James braced himself now for Augere’s reaction to their presence. There had been no time to confer with him prior to the young men’s appearance at the meeting, and Augere hated surprises such as these. It was not a good time to spring this on him, James knew, from the very limited number of previous such encounters in the past. But James had his argument ready: these young men were to be the next generation. If they were going to be of any use to Augere, they would need to know about the kinds of situations they might encounter when working closely with him. Situations like this one did not come up often. James took a chance on inviting them without first informing Augere for that reason: a learning experience like no other. He observed Augere’s cold glance in their direction, and a barely perceptible look of dismay, the tip of the iceberg, James knew from experience, but Augere did not look at James, nor make any comment about them.
“As most of you may already know, we are here for a debriefing. Unfortunately, Jason Sterling has decided to leave his position. I know I speak for most of us, those who have met him certainly, when I say we regret this decision, but it appears he—”
Augere interrupted the proceedings by removing a cell phone from the inner pocket of his jacket and sliding it across the table toward James.
“This needs to be attended to as soon as possible. Also, I am requesting all contact be severed as quickly as it is feasible to do so, as per company policy.” Augere’s voice was calm and measured, James noted, as he nodded his assent and began jotting notes on a yellow legal pad. He put the cell phone into his pocket.
“Under the circumstances,” Augere continued, “it may be ill advised for the assistant to have access to the house to remove personal items. I am suggesting a bonded company be retained for that purpose.”
James nodded as he continued to write. This was common procedure also. Nothing out of the ordinary. He didn’t mind Augere taking over the meeting. Though the Geniers always offered any assistance where the monitoring of his assistants was concerned, the exact details and decisions were always Augere’s realm. They always deferred to his judgment in his personal matters, although they might offer advice and assistance when it seemed appropriate or needed.
“I would also prefer you attempt to spare a family member to oversee that process.” He looked directly at James. “To insure there is no loss or breakage.” Augere paused for a moment, as if in thought. “Remy would be a good choice. Or Parker perhaps.”
James looked up at him, pen poised over his list.
“Remy left on a two week vacation yesterday. Parker’s wife is about to give birth.”
“Vacation?” Augere asked and then added with mock seriousness: “Is he not always on vacation?”
Gentle laughter percolated through the room.
“Perhaps he can be persuaded to return,” Augere suggested.
James winced as he made a notation. Then he looked up at Augere expectantly. But it appeared he had concluded what he had to say.
“Okay, then. It would be helpful to look at this situation to determine what went right particularly; and how we might have handled things differently where things did not.” He gazed around the room.
“I have not yet spoken to Allen. I want to hear how the situation proceeded.” Augere stated, fixing a steady gaze on Allen’s face.
Allen nodded, surprising himself at how calm and composed he was in Augere’s presence once again. Maybe, after all this time, he was finally getting to be just a little more comfortable around Augere.
“I did just as you asked. I got Jason to his family’s home safely. Those present witnessed him enter the house and he was left in the company of his family as we departed. I have nothing to add after that moment as far as we are concerned.”
Augere nodded; Allen took that as his way of expressing gratitude.
“We are all grateful for that,” James continued. “As to what went wrong—”
“I take responsibility,” Augere began, interrupting James.
James was shaking his head. “Certainly no one blames you. If you care to, you may tell us all of the details, from your perspective. Actually we need to record all of it for the Archives anyway…” James paused. The Archives were never a popular subject with Augere. He tried to give Augere an out for now. They would have to get as many details as possible from Jason himself too, but that would have to be at some point in the future. “Suffice it to say there was an encounter with things none of us would ever really want or expect to see. I have no doubt you handled this the best you could, under the circumstances, insuring Jason’s safety as well as maintaining the protection of your privacy.”
All of them were staring at Augere now, trying to imagine what horrors Jason Sterling must have witnessed.
Augere made no reply. His expression betrayed a rarely seen tension now in the form of a deep frown. In fact there seemed to be a general sense of unease, and though it did seem to emanate from Augere, James picked up on a general tension in the room. He had long since become used to such subtleties and had learned to pay attention. Augere did not appear to be inclined to make further comment.
James turned his attention to his brother.
“Allen, in your conversations with Jason—what did he say to you exactly? About what happened?”
“Is this necessary?” Augere asked, an unexpectedly sharp tone to his voice.
“Just to clarify his state of mind; so we can know what thoughts were occurring to him in all of this…”
“Suffice it to say,” Augere replied tersely.
James acknowledged the comment with a nod in Augere’s direction. He turned his attention to Allen. Augere was in rare form today. But then, events like those of the previous forty-eight hours hardly occurred often for him either and this incident had put him in a bad humor. As might well be expected, James would agree, though it seemed this was not usually the case, at least not historically per the Archives James had glanced through, cross referenced regarding previous such incidents: Augere generally took these things, rare or not, in stride.
“Overall, as I shared with you before, he seemed quite fearful,” Allen began. “Even beyond what he must have witnessed, I thought, and beyond what his reaction to that might have been. There was a sense he believed he was still going to come to great harm. Even after he was safely away from—from that event—and from that situation. He just about expressed as much to me.”
“Did he give any indication why he thought that? Why he was feeling that way?”
“I had informed him of the consequences of speaking about any of what had occurred,” Augere stated coolly after glancing up toward the ceiling briefly, and then folding his arms over his chest.
Allen nodded. “He did mention some of that to me. He just stated he wished to go home to his family. And he kept insisting he would tell no one. That we could trust him. I recall him stating, ‘you don’t have to do this.’ I had no idea what he was talking about.”
James seemed to be reflecting on that. “Yes…that doesn’t seem to fully reflect the fear he expressed, however…he was told not to tell anyone about anything he had seen, as well as nothing about Mr. Augere…which is protocol and would be the right thing to say to him. He insisted he would not tell…then why was he still so afraid? I agree when I spoke to him once he was safe back at the hotel he sounded both angry and distraught, even, it seemed, all out of proportion to what had occurred. It seemed as if things did not need to escalate to the outcome they did… Or—am I missing something?”
“It was puzzling to me as well. I just did not get a clear sense of what was going on in his mind. I still think he was in a state of shock; not thinking as rationally as he might, and I thought he would be fine, or at least calmer and more rational, after he had had time to absorb the shock, and hopefully be able to put everything into perspective,” Allen stated. “And he may do so yet.” He shot a quick nervous glance at Augere after he said this, adding “But then of course, he is already terminated, however.”
“Perhaps, in a few weeks, when he has had time to get past this, I can interview him over the phone and get a broader sense of what was going on with him then. If he is willing to speak to me.” James glanced up to see Augere shaking his head. “Or not.” He sighed. “Although it appears we can conclude what likely caused his decision to leave, we will wait until we have had an opportunity to discuss this with him further before we record any of that for the Archives.”
It seemed two of the principal people involved were able to reach a consensus while Augere declined to make any further comment or acknowledgement either way.
“As to what went right, I think it was a great idea Mr. Augere had, to secure the passport early on,” Allen stated. “And in taking such proactive measures, such as notifying me at the first sign there was the potential for a problem, I was able to be right there, at what turned out to be a crucial time.”
“And having a contingency plan worked out quite well, too, I think,” James stated. “The body guard EMT you retained was a good choice. It freed you up to attend to any other matters, while making sure someone was with Jason at all times. I think that went a long way toward preventing a more serious situation. It probably protected everyone’s safety.”
“And Mr. Augere’s decision to leave separately made a good deal of sense,” Allen added.
Augere nodded his agreement.
“Is there anything else we could have done differently? Any other comments on our actions?” James gazed at the faces around the table. “Does anyone have any questions about the procedures that were followed?” He paused for several moments. “We should plan to implement these steps in the event of future incidents such as this one. There is just one more thing if we have concluded with the debriefing then, before we can adjourn for brunch.”
James focused his attention on Augere. “Several unexpected expenses were incurred.” James recited from a list. “Additional hotel expenses-- the Airport Hilton, and Allen’s stay at the Richmond hotel; food expenses; plane tickets and change fees plus the additional cost for Allen and Nick’s flights; retaining Nick’s services; rental car in Minnesota, and the flight for Charles to deliver the papers to be signed and witnessed there.” James paused. “Seventy-five euros—at Harrods—?” He glanced up at Allen with a questioning look.
Allen quickly stated, “That’s mine, I’ll get that.”
Augere responded with a shake of his head. “I will cover that.”
Allen acknowledged Augere’s generosity with a smile and a nod at him. Then James mentioned Jason’s additional unplanned airfare to Minnesota, $560.
“I will not authorize it.” Augere shook his head. “That should be deducted from any monies owed.”
James nodded and made a notation, and then said to Augere, “And I do have some documents for you to sign, if you will wait once the others leave. Allen, will you stay briefly to witness the signatures, please?” Allen nodded assent. Augere had not yet acknowledged James’ request.
“Right. Well if our business is concluded for today then I guess it is time for brunch.”
Voices rose in excited chatter all around the table at the prospect of a lavish brunch at a local restaurant, to be paid for, as usual, by Augere and the Genier family. The brunches were customary after all meetings.
No one caught the movement, but suddenly Augere was standing too.
“I hardly think this situation is cause for a celebratory mood.” The sharp tone of his voice cut all of the chatter immediately. A deafening silence followed for several long moments.
“No. Of course it is not,” James stated in a quiet voice, meant to soothe. “No one meant any disrespect here.”
More heavy silence followed. Augere’s eyes were flashing ominously though his face was impassive.
