Woman King

by Evette Davis

  When I was alone, I read for hours, reviewing the historical events leading up to the two world wars. It was both fascinating and frightening to see how the stage was set for World War II. Absorbed by the narratives of how world leaders had let Hitler get so far ahead of them, my curiosity kept me awake till dawn some nights. I read about the unbridled lust for power by Germany, the great ambivalence of the other powers when Poland and Czechoslovakia were invaded; and then finally, the world’s horror as France, too, was occupied and divided.

  William and Josef were my connection to this history. Through my readings, I also began to understand why members of the Council seemed so deeply skeptical that society could manage its own affairs. The opportunity to upset the balance of power remains a constant, no matter the century. Even today, newspapers carry headlines of governments suspending constitutions or eliminating their judiciary. And too often the inexplicable fringe candidate surges suddenly to the forefront, running on a platform of paranoia and hatred.

  And yet, as absorbed as I was with history, my training with Josef also became a source of fascination. William didn’t always accompany me, leaving me to work without his scrutiny, and perhaps also so that I might ask questions to feed my inquisitiveness. I made the most of my time when we were alone. Josef was intensely handsome, more so than William in some ways. Where one was fair, the other was swarthy. I had to remind myself that they were brothers through a vampire bond; two very different men bound to one another through a man, not a woman.

  Unlike William, Josef was provocative, his motives complicated. I had no doubt of his loyalty to his brother, but I remembered what William said about “vampires coveting what the others have.” When Josef took my body through its paces, knocking me to the ground, using his arms and legs to block me, lust was left hanging in the air. I would be lying if I didn’t acknowledge some desire for him, too. I wondered if this, too, was a ploy by William to gauge the strength of my own fidelity.

  Perhaps William had reason to test me. After a particularly intense sparring session, as we were catching our breath on the mats, I made the mistake of telling Josef that I could read him, that I could see his aura, and pick up on his emotions. William would have had a fit, reminding me to be more discreet. I don’t know what caused me to push the limits like that. But when I did, Josef fixed on me the fiercest of gazes.

  “Do not let other vampires know,” he admonished me. “We are a private sort, and do not like to be so transparent to others.”

  He stared intently, his dark-brown eyes scrutinizing me. “It is curious that you can read vampires. Humans don’t usually have the skills. It is no wonder William wants you to be able to defend yourself.”

  “Why didn’t William mention you right away?”

  “If you know a vampire’s family, you know where they sleep,” he said. “We protect our privacy.”

  “So the fact that William introduced us is significant.” It was half question, half statement.

  Josef eyed me warily. “Yes, but please don’t ask me if he really loves you,” he said in a mocking tone. “Vampires are not like a grade-school crush. My brother has survived close to two hundred years by limiting his exposure to humans. If he has brought you to see me, it’s because he has found his mate. He trusts you with his survival.”

  “Apparently, he entrusts my survival to you,” was my comeback with a twist. I shot my right foot in the air to try to knock him down and my timing was right. Josef was too distracted by my comment to move out of the way and I managed to get him partially to the floor.

  “Very good, sister,” he said.

  “Sister,” I repeated, continuing to spar. “Don’t I have to be married to William, to become your sister?”

  “You are as good as married to William now,” Josef said. “He has left you alone with me for days…if he hadn’t made it clear you were his mate, I would have taken you for myself. Immediately.”

  Ever so briefly, an image popped into mind. I shook it away, ashamed that I had entertained it at all, but Josef caught a whiff of what my imagination evoked. He sensed my slip and let out a loud laugh as he knocked me to the ground. He came down to the floor, hovering directly over me.

  “Olivia, I believe you have a bit of vampire in you,” he said. “Now who is coveting what she may not have?”

  I laid still for a minute, feeling the outline of his body on mine. He smelled of cinnamon and cumin, like some exotic spice out of the East. I suppose I was testing his mettle as much as my own, but I could sense he was merely playing with me. He had no intention of betraying his brother. We both stayed silent apart from the sound my deep breathing, and then I pushed him aside and got up to leave the studio.

  “Au revoir, mon frère.”

  “A bientôt,” he said, with a mock salute. “I will see you again, yes, and soon.”

  Twenty minutes later, as I walked into my house, I heard the phone ringing. The caller ID told me it was my mother. I hesitated to pick up, cognizant of being only intermittently in touch these last few weeks. I hadn’t been avoiding her exactly, but there were so many events, so many revelations, that I wasn’t feeling up to telling her everything. Learning of my injuries from the robbery alone would have been enough to send her over the edge.

  She sounded happy when I answered, though I gave off the vibe that I was very much on the move yet again. “Are you coming or going? Do you have a minute to speak?”

  “I’m just walking in from working out,” I said, “What’s up?”

  “My trip to Paris is coming up,” she said. “I’m leaving in two days. I think I may have mentioned that I was invited to show my paintings at the Left Bank gallery. It’s down the way from the Musée d’Orsay on the Quai Malaquais.”

  “Two days?” I said. “Is someone already in Paris helping set up?”

  “Yes, darling, you know me well enough to know I would never agree to an exhibition on such short notice. I chose the paintings weeks ago and an assistant flew ahead to get started. The show doesn’t actually begin for two more weeks, but I would like some time with my work to decide its final arrangement.”

  I was happy for her. Paris was her refuge, a place she felt welcome and safe. The customs of the French and their rituals were second nature, and I knew she would spend the next few months at peace.

  “Wonderful, I am so thrilled for you,” I said, wanting to emphasize how I felt as she was heading out of the country.

  “You sound good too,” she said.

  “I am,” I said. “The campaign is keeping me very busy, but I’m enjoying myself. Gabriel is very pleased with how things are going. I will have to mention your show. He keeps an apartment in Paris; perhaps he will get a chance to see it after the election is over.”

  I felt a deep pang of alarm from my mother across the phone line. “Mom, what is it?”

  “Olivia, how old is Gabriel?” she asked. “What does he look like?”

  “I don’t know, I’m terrible at guessing, but I would say he is in his mid-fifties,” I said, amused. “He has salt-and-pepper gray hair, dresses like a Frenchman and has an obsession with ordering everyone’s food and wine for them. Why?”

  “I’m curious about this man who has so changed your life,” she said, trying to mask her anxiety. “I’ve been meaning to ask you more about him, but it never came up.” The worry she had so clearly transmitted was gone, but I sensed she was still concerned about something.

  “You needn’t worry, Mom. He has given me the freedom to do great things.”

  “I’m your mother. It’s my job to worry, and to lobby. Would you consider coming to Paris when your work allows? It would be nice to spend a few days with you.”

  I thought about for it moment and knew that it was the perfect place to escape to with William when the campaign was finished. “Sure, I’d love to come,” I said. “Let me look at my schedule and I will call you when I figure out the dates.”

  “Will you be coming alone?” my mother asked, the tinge
of concern back in her voice.

  “No,” I said. “I will probably bring a friend.”

  “OK. I’ve taken a suite at the Ritz. Extravagant, I know, but at my age I need the pampering. There will be an extra room for you if you want it.”

  “Merci, maman, je t’aime.”

  “Love you too,” she said.

  After the conversation, I began to daydream about walking the streets of Paris with William. It was romantic and thrilling—except the part where I explained to my mother that I have a vampire for a companion. I wasn’t sure how much she would pick up, or how much I should tell her. I needed to discuss the situation with William and see what he wanted to do. Meanwhile, my conversation had thrown me off schedule, leaving me little time to clean up. I raced upstairs, excited at the prospect of Paris in the autumn, strolling carefree through the city’s magnificent arrondissements.

  ****

  CHAPTER 33

  Election Day is always a strange day for campaign consultants. After weeks and weeks of nonstop work, there is nothing to do now but wait. When a race is in play, it can feel like the longest day of the year. The polls in California don’t close until 8 pm and the results don’t begin to trickle in until an hour or so later. That means that from the minute I wake up, and then for another ten hours or more, I have to find a way to occupy myself, hoping that in the end, all of my hard work pays off. Every consultant has a different way of coping. I know some who arrange long, extravagant lunches with friends. Others go into the office and busy themselves with other projects. For me, it’s a rare day to get in plenty of exercise.

  On this Election Day I got up early, as I had for the last several weeks. But instead of heading to Josef’s studio, I had another idea in mind as I stared at William in my bed. With a little prodding, he agreed to join me for a run in Golden Gate Park.

  “Let’s run to the beach and back,” I said, as we stretched at dawn on the sidewalk in front of the house.

  We jogged through the Music Concourse, its rows of sycamores fading with autumn. A dozen Chinese senior citizens were doing their tai chi exercises, accompanied by traditional music coming from an old cassette player. We passed the de Young and then quickly turned behind the museum and headed west toward Ocean Beach. I looked up at the now-empty floors of the tower, where we normally met with our colleagues. Still dark outside, the copper skin of the building was illuminated by the white glow of interior office lights, giving the building an odd, artificial color.

  “It’s amazing to realize this building leads two lives,” I said as we jogged past.

  “Sort of like you,” William said.

  “I guess so,” I said. “All of us, really.”

  “A necessary evil,” he said. “Because in this case, the truth is more complicated than the fiction.”

  As we continued to run, I picked up on the distinctive caw of a raven somewhere behind us. I stopped for a moment to stretch and casually turned toward the noise, and there atop a streetlight was a trio of the black birds. William, who’d run a few paces ahead of me, realized I’d stopped and circled back.

  “Why’d you stop?”

  “I was distracted by the ravens,” I said, pointing. “I’ve never known them to be so bold, so early in the morning.”

  He eyed the enormous creatures with disdain.

  “Get out of here, you three!” he said, facing in their direction. “Tell your master you’ve been discovered.”

  The ravens didn’t move, nor did they make another sound either. We were locked in a staring contest, making me feel like a character in a Hitchcock film.

  “They can understand you?” I asked quietly under my breath.

  “I’m guessing,” he said, never taking his eyes off the trio. “You said it yourself, these birds are normally not this active so early in the morning. I think they’re spies, shape-shifters that report to someone, perhaps Nikola.”

  “That’s odd. I don’t sense anything. How can you be sure?”

  “I can’t,” he said. “All I have is my instinct, but their presence is odd.”

  “Let’s ignore them,” I said. “You might be right, but what can they tell him anyway?”

  “OK,” William said. “But don’t say anything you don’t want him to hear.”

  “You mean Nikola?”

  William nodded.

  “Oh, but I should like to send him a message,” I said.

  “That’s exactly what I was afraid of,” he said. “Say nothing, love. Let him know nothing of what you’re thinking.”

  Reluctantly, I agreed.

  “Come on,” I said, turning my back on the birds. “I feel like going over to Strawberry Hill instead of the beach. We can run up the hill and look out at the Golden Gate.”

  A few minutes later we turned onto the access road that climbs up to Stow Lake, and followed the pavement until we reached the opening for the trails that lead to the top of the hill. Morning was in full swing for the creatures of the lake, the ducks and geese quacking and honking, waddling back and forth as they searched for their morning meals. Small pink crayfish were crawling out of the muck onto the grass, creeping slowly toward a point unknown. I marveled at the activity as we slowly zigzagged up the dirt path, climbing up the hill, the city panorama coming into view. Our climb finished, I paused with my hands on my knees to catch my breath. I looked around for the gathering of fallen tree trunks we’d first sat on months ago after the bluegrass festival and pointed them out to William.

  “Do you remember when we sat on those logs?” I asked. “I told you my story and then you disappeared.”

  “That’s not exactly how I remember it,” he said.

  “How do you remember it?”

  “I kissed you,” he said. “I kissed you, and then I disappeared.”

  “That’s right,” I said. “I was so disappointed. When I opened my eyes you were gone.”

  “I was disappointed, too, darlin,” he said. “But I thought it better to leave.”

  “Did you know I would find you?”

  “I hoped you would try.”

  “I didn’t know what I was doing,” I said, surprised at my admission. “I mean, I wanted you so badly, but I didn’t realize…”

  “I know,” he said. “That is why I decided to leave that day.”

  “And now?”

  “Now,” he said, pulling me into his arms. “Now I know that you know exactly what I’m thinking.”

  What he was thinking is that he wanted to kiss, so I obliged, several times over. And this time, when I opened my eyes, he was still there, right by my side. The moment wasn’t lost on me and I decided to make my long-term intentions clear by mentioning Paris.

  “My mother has invited me to visit her in Paris,” I said. “She has an exhibition there. I told her I would come for a few days to visit after the election. I thought maybe we would go together.”

  “You want me to meet your mother?” he asked.

  “Isn’t that normally what people do before they get married?” I asked, hoping my proposal would make him happy. “But I need some help. What should we tell her? Will she be able to sense you’re a vampire…the way I can?”

  “I’m not sure,” he said. “We’ll have to see when we get there. I have an apartment in Paris, the one my father bought before the war. It’s near the Canal St. Martin. We can stay there.”

  “You still own an apartment in Paris…from the war?” I asked.

  William nodded. “After we’re married, I’ll tell you more about our holdings. We’ve been very fortunate over the years.”

  “Can we have a ceremony?” I asked.

  “If you can live with a judge instead of a priest, then yes,” he said. “We can have a ceremony in Paris if you like, or wait until we’re back home.”

  I was already imagining a small café on the Left Bank, or maybe inside the Hôtel de Ville, City Hall. And then by chance I got to the part in my daydream where they say “till death do you part,” and I caught myself won
dering what life will be like watching myself grow old, when he would not.

  “I can hear your thoughts. Don’t worry about that now. We have many years together before that is an issue. Let’s enjoy our fortune in finding each other. Even human couples have no guarantee that they will grow old together, Olivia.”

  “You’re right,” I said, taking his hand in mind. “Let’s take it one day at a time.”

  We jogged back through the park and returned home, no ravens in sight. By the time we showered and changed, it was time for me to leave for Palo Alto. William said goodbye, promising to meet me at the campaign offices later in the evening. We would monitor things for a while from there, and then move to a restaurant nearby that Levi had rented for the evening.

  After I arrived at the office, I passed the last few hours until the polls closed packing up boxes of confidential documents and organizing the equipment and other supplies we’d rented so they could be returned.

  By 7 pm I was ready to check in with the local news outlets and see what they had to say about election results. I managed to stay calm most of the day, reminding myself that our own internal polling had shown Levi ahead in the race by a solid ten points for several weeks. The numbers for undecided voters, however had not moved, making it possible we could still lose the race if those votes went to Lacy.

  Levi had texted me earlier, letting me know he would see me at the bistro at 8 pm. I didn’t see any reason for him to arrive sooner. Gabriel was also coming around that time, and I suspected William, Lily and perhaps even Josef would follow. At the last minute, I’d sent Josef a text inviting him to the dinner, figuring I should include my future brother-in-law in our plans.

  Just as I turned on the local news a reporter began discussing the station’s process of exit polling. It is possible to predict the outcome of a race using exit polling, although not always. Exit polls, they said, showed Levi Barnes as the winner. I could only hope they were right, I mused, as I tried to stay busy for the final hour of voting.