Smoldering Embers

by P. M. Briede

  He was stiff as she endeavored to ravage his mouth with a persistence I had to give her some credit for. While he didn’t reject her kiss, he didn’t return it, and having been on the other end of one of his kisses, I knew what he’d do. I mustered up as much poise as I could, cleared my throat, and excused myself from them. I wasn’t ten steps away before I felt his fingers graze down my triceps to catch my elbow. “Charlotte, wait. It’s not what it looks like.”

  My previous desire to protect him surged and I had to tamper it down. I turned and looked him right in the eye. “You don’t owe me an explanation, Olivier. I understand. She’s very beautiful. You don’t need my approval, although, as your friend, I’d hoped you would have aimed a little higher.”

  My words hadn’t been what he was expecting and that was evident by the widening of his eyes coupled with the arch of his brows. His reaction wasn’t what I’d predicted either. He stepped forward to gently trace my hairline and down my neck to my shoulder. He put his lips to my ear. Just as he always did when he wanted privacy in a crowded room. “So my disappearance didn’t dissuade you from being my friend?” That fiery heat that only he sparked in the deepest recesses of my body stole my voice. “Because from here it smells more of jealousy.” I emphatically shook my head but he just chuckled at me. “Then what is it?”

  “She’s not good enough for you, Olivier,” I answered, matching his volume. “Don’t ask me why. Call it women’s intuition, but there’s something sinister about her.”

  “So you care then?” He pulled back to look into my eyes. Whatever he saw there curled the corners of his mouth into a genuine smile. “Let me put you at ease. I’m not the least bit interested in her, as my desires haven’t changed course.” His fiery eyes followed the line of my arm as his fingers trailed down it in an arousing caress until he could intertwine our fingers. My blood boiled in response to his touch and I was finding it hard to breathe. When his eyes returned to mine the fire was so intense all the color was sucked out of them and they glowed white. “Your instincts are spot on with her though. She is dangerous.”

  “Why?” fell from my lips as I exhaled. I’d always felt that she was but hearing someone other than Paige agree was comforting. Wesley refused to acknowledge my opinion when it came to her.

  “I’ll answer whatever question you heart desires. Name the time and place.”

  Before I could say now and anywhere, I heard Paige hissing my name from somewhere to my right. He stepped away from me and freed my hand. She glanced at him petulantly. “Olivier, why is it whenever I see you and Charlotte together I feel a sudden urge to protect her?”

  “I’m not sure, Paige. I can promise you, she’ll always be perfectly safe with me.” An entertained expression overtook his face and the flames were gone from his eyes.

  “Oh, I believe that you’d keep her safe from harm. My implication though is can you keep her safe from yourself?” Her question caught him unawares and he straightened to his full height and squared his shoulders. I stifled a laugh at the war of words that was brewing between them. She didn’t give him an opportunity to respond though. “Please, excuse us.” She interlocked our arms at the elbow and steered me away from him. “Charlotte, I need to tell you something before Wesley gets out here. And exactly when are you going to learn that that man puts your new fiancé on the defensive?”

  Everything about her was wound tight. “Easy Paige, I’ll avoid him the rest of the night. What’s got your ears up?”

  She nodded and continued in an agitated voice. “Look, I’m sorry to do this here but I just got a text from Professor Kline.” I waited patiently for her to continue. “The results came back today and, Charlotte, they’re not good.” It’d come back as human blood, but how did he heal so quickly? “Some of the samples came back human. Some of the samples came back animal. And then some came back neither. I collected all the samples as I would if it had been a crime scene I was investigating.”

  The implications sunk in and I tried to wrap my mind around the results. “Were the samples contaminated then?”

  “That’s just it. They were all together there under the piano. There’s no way some could have gotten contaminated and not others. Even if that had happened, some of the conflicting results came from the exact same blood drop. That can’t happen. The tests would come back showing corruption, not come back with one positive result in three different categories. It’s impossible.”

  “What does that mean, then?”

  “In my professional opinion?” I nodded. “It means that whoever that blood belongs to isn’t anything we’ve ever come across before.”

  She had to be joking! That had to be a joke. At least I’d hoped it would be a joke. Trouble was I’d already begun to have the same suspicions. I could see the worry and fear deep in her eyes. She was holding it together for my sake! “What are you saying?”

  “Charlotte, you know what I’m saying.” She stopped and took in whatever sentiments were racing across my face before tenderly prodding me. “You ready to tell me who the blood belongs to now?”

  Without thinking I looked back over my shoulder until my eyes rested on Olivier. He stood there laughing gaily with Max, looking as though he hadn’t a care in the world. And here I was being a delivered a bomb that could destroy it. “I knew it. We need to talk about this. I still trust you and if you say he’s harmless then I believe you. But I have to say that if these blood drops do belong to him, and are you convinced that they do?” I nodded grimly. “Alright, then we need to figure out what we’re going to do, if anything.”

  Gratitude suffused my entire body. I hugged her and dragged her with me when I saw Alexander approaching the stage. She wasn’t judging me or Olivier, but was willing to blindly jump into something neither one of us fully understood.

  “You obviously suspected this. Why?”

  “He cut his hand and within seconds it was healed leaving only a faint scar behind.”

  “Charlotte, that’s not surprising. There wasn’t a lot of blo…”

  “There was a pool, Paige. I saw it pouring from between his fingers and pool on the ground. I don’t know how he did it but he managed to clean it up. The only explanation for the drops we collected is that he didn’t see them.”

  “I take it he lied about it which is why you called me in?” I nodded. “What are you going to do?”

  “The only thing I can.” I looked back over my shoulder at him. “I’m going to ask him.”

  “And you think he’s just going to answer you now?”

  “It’s why I had you collect the blood. He’ll have to.”

  “When?” I turned back to her and shrugged. “Is that all there is?” I caught sight of Alexander heading towards the stage. I shrugged again and dragged her back to our table.

  Wesley and Tristan met us a few steps from our table. Wesley put his arm around me and kissed my temple. “I was starting to wonder where you’d run off too,” he whispered in my ear. He pulled out the chair to his right and I sat down next to Regina. When I glanced around the table I was startled to see Olivier across from me. So much for avoiding him. Why was he at Governor Wyatt’s table? But when I remembered he was here with Abigail, I chastised myself for being foolish. Wesley took the seat to my left, immediately taking my hand in his under the table as he fondled the ring he’d placed on it earlier.

  The governor’s voice rang out over the ballroom. Much like his speeches before, he touted all the successes of his current term, while glazing over some of the failures. He outlined his plans for the future but they weren’t specific to the citizens of Louisiana this time. The speech was grander and focused more on the hardships facing the nation. He talked about national unemployment and addressed homelessness and poverty. His passion rose when he talked about education and the diminished funding that was out there for the arts.

  My suspicions solidified when he began calling his campaign team on stage to introduce them to the masses. He began with Press Secretary, Celinda
Banks. He introduced a few others before calling up Director of Finance, Tristan St. Claire. I knew Wesley was next when he kissed my palm before rising. “Please give a hand to my Chief of Staff and Campaign Director, Wesley Breaux.” Wesley walked across the stage to greet Governor Wyatt and wave to the crowd. At the table Regina and Abigail stood to begin their approach to the stage. With that the only people remaining at our table were Olivier, Paige, and I, and we all looked at each other in bewilderment.

  “It’s time that we share the secrets of Louisiana with the rest of the country. It’s time that we show the world what it means to speak loudly and carry a big stick! It’s time to get America back on track, to take care of all our citizens and help them get up after their government knocked them down. My name is Alexander Wyatt and I am running for President of the United States of America!”

  The Beatle’s Revolution blared from the speakers set all around the room as red, white, and blue confetti floated down from the ceiling. The crowd rose to their feet with boisterous applause and cheers drowning out the lyrics. Me? I sat there, rooted in place, staring at the place Wesley had been before the mob robbed him from my eyes. A Presidential campaign? He had to have known before he proposed. A national campaign? He’d be gone for months at a time. As I tried to find anything to focus my rapid thoughts on I chuckled to myself because the campaign theme song was performed by the “British Invasion.”

  I stood and turned away from the table. I needed to escape. I needed to catch my breath. I needed to think. There was just too much going on in the room, I couldn’t focus on anything and I felt like I was drowning. As gingerly as I could, I pushed through the pulsating throng. When I burst outside through the mansion’s doors I sat down on the first bench I could find, put my elbows on my knees, and caught my head in my hands as I tried to regulate my breathing.

  A political life wasn’t anything new to me. I’d been a mayor’s wife for seven years in Idaho. The last couple of months I’d been Wesley’s “plus one” to every gubernatorial event. It was familiar territory but it wasn’t really something I wanted to pursue on such an imposing scale. There were going to be countless trips Wesley was going to have to take. All the information he was going to have to learn. All the secrets he was going to have to keep. I got dragged back under the swell by the sheer gravity it all possessed. Panic, though, truly set in when it occurred to me that we might not be separated because he might expect me to quit my job and crisscross the nation with him. Hyperventilating, I wondered at the circus that would ensue if Alexander actually won the election!

  These were not my dreams. This was not how I wanted to live my life, always in the spotlight. But how could I tell Wesley that? These were his dreams. This was how he wanted to live his life. He wanted to have a positive impact on the world, to change it for the better. He’d been working towards it since college and it wasn’t fair to take that away from him. I needed Paige. I needed to hear that everything was going to be alright, that it’d work out in the end.

  Wiping the cold sweat from my brow, lips, and palms, I steeled myself to re-enter the ballroom and face my fears. We’d work through it, I just didn’t see how yet. Paige! Find Paige. That was the first order of business. Avoid Wesley and find Paige.

  My mind was racing miles per minute as I walked back inside the Grand Oak Mansion. Actually the first order of business was to find a bathroom. I needed to wash my hands. I took the hallway towards the ladies room and was relieved to hear Paige’s voice.

  “We have to tell her.” She sounded frustrated and distressed. I picked up my skirt and quickened my steps until I heard the voice that answered her.

  “We’re not telling her Paige. It’ll only cause her pain. This is the happiest night of our lives and you’re not going to ruin that for her.” It was Wesley and he sounded annoyed, somehow I knew that the “her” was me. I froze. There was a table with a five foot floral arrangement between us so they hadn’t noticed me. What could they possibly be talking about?

  Sighing in frustration, she spat at him. “I agree that she doesn’t need to find out tonight. You two deserve your moment, but Wesley, we have to find a time and tell her together. Do you know how many times I’ve almost let it slip? She’s smart and if she finds out on her own I shudder to think what the consequences will be for all of us. She’ll understand…”

  Feeling guilty for eavesdropping, I turned to walk away but was again rooted in place when I heard the malice radiate from his response when he cut her off. “She won’t and she’ll hate us for it. Charlotte won’t understand our affair Paige. Hell let’s be honest, do we really understand it?” Affair!

  The shock of his revelation was the jolt I needed to get moving again. Everywhere I looked, there were people swarming around. The only place that had been remotely peaceful was the courtyard I’d sought refuge in not ten minutes ago. I sank back down on the bench and tried to process what I’d heard. Just the thought of my two best friends made me feel as if a constrictor had wrapped itself around my heart.

  As I fought to focus my rapid thoughts a voice pulled me out of my whirling mind. “I told you I’m done interfering!” His harsh tone startled me. He was right behind me. “I am not getting involved anymore.” I turned and saw Olivier in an impassioned conversation but I couldn’t see with whom. I intended to get up and leave but my feet carried me towards them as if pulled by gravity. Whatever they were talking about had his full attention. Yet again I didn’t seem to be noticed at all.

  I was standing behind the tall, wide fountain which was centered in the courtyard. The trilling sounds of water did nothing to distort their conversation. I may not have been able to see her but I recognized the sonorous voice that answered him. “Yet again you seem to misunderstand me. This is not a request, this is an order. We are too close to have our plans dashed now. If the course isn’t changed back soon, drastic measures will have to be taken.” It was the one from my dreams! Which meant that Olivier was the other voice! How had I never realized that before! Why were they in my head?! How were they in my head?!

  “This is insane even for you. Their lots are mapped out. She couldn’t possibly keep making choices that interfere with your plans.” Olivier flung the words out spraying his companion in spittle.

  The woman calmly opened a handkerchief to dab at her still hidden face. “Has it never occurred to you that maybe that is her lot?” Her? Her who? I swallowed hard, afraid that I knew.

  “Beg pardon?” This was the first indication I had that Olivier was fearful of the woman. It bled through his words and showed plainly on his face.

  Wait! How was it that I could see Olivier so clearly but the woman was a blur? “Don’t be a fool; we both know you’re too cunning. You understand me.” I slowly moved around the fountain to get a better view of her. But there wasn’t one. No matter where I stood her image was shrouded behind falling water.

  “One person cannot take that much misfortune,” his strained voice hedged.

  She laughed at him. Where he was antsy and wary, she was arrogant and confident. If he was afraid of her then so was I. “Why not? You think my present predicament doesn’t hold a past full of misfortune?”

  That was it! I needed to get his attention and get him away from her. He continued their conversation though before I could come up with anything and his words shocked me. “Yours is self-inflicted. You knew full well what you were about. We all did. This is different. We are turning their courses.” We?

  In my dreams they had always been arguing, just like they were now. She’d always insisted that he follow orders. He’d always refused. Now it sounded like he was a part of whatever this was. Sounded like he’d carried the orders out. What was self-inflicted? What had they done?

  “If we hadn’t started turning their courses the world would not be what it is today. Now there is an opening and I expect you to seize it.” Irritation seeped through her tone. It was the first emotion I’d heard from her.

  Determination overtook his
demeanor as he vehemently shook his head. “Send someone else.”

  One of her hands rose with her fingers curling in on her palm as if she was inspecting her nails, not holding an ominous conversation out in the open. In fact she didn’t appear to care at all if anyone overheard them. “No one else has success with this one, except you. Even I’ve tried with her before and you know how that turned out.”

  “Don’t remind me.” He ran his hand over his face and the look in his eyes was weary and remorseful.

  Again she chuckled, finding humor in his pain. Even though I’d decided to try and free him of her, I still hadn’t come up with anything. “Didn’t think I’d have to; I expect to see the course turned before the end of the month. The next time I send for him and she gets in the way I’ll have her eliminated.” Eliminate? Good God, who was this woman who could talk of eliminating someone so casually?

  “What?!” His voice boomed. “You can’t be serious! Just relocate her again.” My sixth sense gave me an inkling who “she” was but I refused to acknowledge the thought and give it permanence.

  Pain was swiftly building behind my eyes. The air swung from icy cold to fever hot, growing stifling and humid. I couldn’t breathe and began panting. The pain doubled me over and I sat on the edge of the fountain. My skin took on the green glow from my dreams. My chest was tight as I fought to get air into my lungs. My body convulsed and began trembling uncontrollably.

  “It’s too late for that. We’re starting a revolution, Olivier, just not the kind these simple minded creatures think. With him under my thumb it’ll be a guaranteed success. The time is finally ripe for a new world order, our world order. Handle her or…” She stopped talking as she rolled her wrist a ball of the green fire that haunted me lit up above her palm.