Saints of Evil | Trepidation Trilogy | The Empty World Sequence

Eighteen

The ranch had been their home for quite a while, they had stayed safe.  Though there were those humans who searched for them, either for their lives or their images on media, they could not be found.  It was suspected that Sadian, Astoric and their father were hiding, that they were with Thierry Jewel who also could not be found, even that they lived somewhere on the African continent.  But the Ranch was so remote and in name had always belonged to Aje and never to Thierry, though he seemed master of the house more often than not.

     Pop was always with them, keeping them safe.  And most of the time Grandmother, whom they all called Quick, was there, except for short trips she made elsewhere.  And always either Angel or Aje was with them.  They both might be called away as Quick was to help the Abdals.  Sadian knew about the Abdals.  Opium was with them now and she had visited the ranch.  She was the only other one who knew exactly where they were.  Others had some idea.  Old Steven knew that they were with Thierry somewhere.  David and Orchid suspected they had gone back to the ranch, David even knew its location, but they wouldn't tell anyone else. 

     Only those who stayed at the Ranch in the remote part of Tanzania where only the local wildlife, teams of archaeologists, anthropologists, various zoologists and the occasional geologist came poking about...and they were always more concerned with old bones dug up at Olduvai Gorge, the protected herds of animals or the present measurements of the Great Rift Valley...knew quite where they were.  None of the scientific teams paid much attention if they did notice a fenced in compound with large cast concrete house and various wood or pre-fab composite material out buildings.  If they noticed the strange children lurking in the tall grasses, watching the lions mate, as they did with video cameras, they showed no notice. 

     Sadian loved Africa, their life at the ranch.  Thierry was making sure all of them continued learning.  She suspected his motives, thought Thierry wanted to prepare them should such a time come when they would have to survive much more self-sufficiently than this.  Mother was earning a degree in medicine over the net, and was spending much more time devoted to soul searching and casting of spells.  Father was ever at one of the computers or reading old books from Aje's library.  Aje was turning out to be very interesting, Sadian thought. 

     But Thierry was particularly concerned with Sadian and Astoric's education.  He pushed them to their limits, fed them information of endless topics, always steering Sadian a bit more toward science and biology, toward the use of knowledge to manipulate one's environment.  Thierry allowed Sadian to see that he had collected genetic samples from many animals, as if he believed a flood would come and he must save these to repopulate the world. 

     Astoric learned to work with his hands, to make things, to understand design specs and blueprints and make from them useful objects.  And because he enjoyed it, Thierry encouraged him to study the local animals and to care for and feed the ones kept on the ranch. 

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Angel was in the control room again.  There was no place quite as secure as Vampire City, and since Prince Ludwig cared more for his title than Italy's climate he had no problem with Angel taking up residence here again.  She had her own title, Empress of the Vampyres, and she had called many of her surviving kin to her.  

     She had Aje in an open window of the large world map that was so often projected onto the wall-sized thin plastic screen from a device in the ceiling.  He was keeping watch at The Ranch and was safely brought to her via maze of satellite relays Quick had set up.   Angel had her back turned to the screen just as Aje's voice came through the many concealed speakers in this room explaining the movements of American anti-Darkling organizations.