by M. O. McLeod
“How many they say have died?” asked O’bellaDonna.
“The numbers are dwindling,” answered Rupert in a grave voice.
“But north Alexandria is still up and running like nothing is even happening I bet,” stated O’bellaDonna. “How many people you think have become Phantoms?”
“Not you or me,” replied Rupert. He sipped his drink and raised his pinky. “As long as the north is kept up and running and the market doesn’t crash then Alexandria will keep on ticking.”
“But your mother, father, people who are humans like you…”
“Excuse me?” Rupert exclaimed.
O’bellaDonna back tracked. “Humans like us need to stick together, we have to do something.”
“You know what you can do?” asked Rupert. “Stay alive and stay out of these Phantoms way.”
O’bellaDonna knew that. She was more worried for Rupert and all the humans who couldn’t just fly out of harm’s way like she could.
Rupert placed his drink on a nearby stand and clapped his hands together, startling O’bellaDonna. “I’m going to do you one better.” Rupert looked into O’bellaDonna’s face and placed a long thin arm around her shoulders. He came close and whispered in O’bellaDonna’s ear.
“You see that handsome man over there entertaining all those stuffy middle-aged, boring, tired, honey child played out...”
“Don’t hurt their feelings!” squealed O’bellaDonna. She and Rupert tended to act up when they got together and this night was no different.
Rupert continued but got to the point, “I think that what he needs is a girl like you.”
O’bellaDonna gave him that look. “Is he married?”
“Has that ever stopped you before?” answered Rupert.
O’bellaDonna gave an evil grin. “Who is that man, Rupert?”
Rupert looked shocked. “Lord, you don’t even know what your own mayor looks like?” he asked. “Here I am giving you dinner on a silver platter and you don’t even know what you eating!”
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” she grabbed Rupert and begged for his forgiveness. “Introduce us; I’m trying to be like you, up north in someone’s penthouse.”
Rupert knew his O’bellaDonna. She liked her men the way he did: a high rolling, power player who was paid. “Don’t ever say I didn’t do anything for you.” Rupert touched his curls once more. “Now, darling, get those girls up and let’s do this.”
O’bellaDonna’s eyes were glassy and big as the two approached a striking man in his late forties. He had on a three-piece gray suit and silver-tipped dress shoes. O’bellaDonna came closer and noticed a ring on his manicured fingers. She kind of felt bad for his wife. She was going to mess up everything for them. Oh well, she thought.
Rupert walked right in between the ladies and the mayor as if the women were invisible. He even hit one of them in the face with his feather boa.
“Mayor Wilks, may I introduce my dear friend,” Rupert announced as he pushed O’bellaDonna to the front.
She felt all eyes on her and loved every minute of it. She smoothed her dress over her voluptuous hips and let her body shift to the right, her better side.
“O’bellaDonna Summers, this is Mayor Chauncey Wilks, the thoroughbred,” Rupert finished his introduction and stepped aside.
O’bellaDonna went for the handshake and felt pleasure as Mayor Wilks tightly wrapped his hand around hers and bent to kiss the front of her hand. She saw Rupert give an approving nod and disappear into the crowd. The mayor of Alexandria was standing in front of her smiling a charming smile. Forget the Olivares Tower; she would rather do everything she could to go home with him, if not his house then at least his hotel room.
“Mayor, they call you the thoroughbred? What an unusual nickname. Why is that?” asked O’bellaDonna in a seductive voice.
Mayor Wilks pulled her closer and let O’bellaDonna in on the joke. “Only use that name in the bedroom. O’bellaDonna is it? May I call you Donna?”
“Of course. You may call me whatever or whenever you want,” she hinted. She hoped he got her gist.
“Mayor, how do you feel about the deaths that is going on inside the beloved city?” asked a female from the small circle of guest who were still standing by the two.
O’bellaDonna cut her eyes at the woman. Didn’t the lady see that she was busy trying to work her magic?
The mayor answered quickly but kept his eyes on O’bellaDonna the whole time. “The city of Alexandria has prevailed time and time again.” He directed O’bellaDonna away from the party guest and said after-handily, “The city is working tirelessly day and night to combat the problem.”
O’bellaDonna heard the guests murmur under their breath but she and the mayor were already hurrying off to a dark corner. She brought the mayor back inside and was almost knocked over by the heat from the party. Inside, people were everywhere, stepping on her toes, spilling drinks, laughing in her face. She didn’t want to lose the mayor in the shuffle and knew she needed a quieter place to cozy up to him.
The mayor squeezed her hand and took the lead, directing the two in and out of people’s way. He ignored as many people as he could and put on a tight smile when necessary…still holding on to O’bellaDonna’s hand.
“Do you want to see something spectacular?” he asked O’bellaDonna.
He didn’t even have to ask. Of course she wanted to see something spectacular and she wanted to see it sooner than later. She nodded her head at him since the music was blaring in her ear.
“The Penthouse baby. We’re going straight to the top.” Mayor Wilks pointed upwards.
Thank you dear Rupert, O’bellaDonna thought to herself. If she played her cards right then she would have two options. Take Mayor Wilks down and become his girlfriend, or turn him on to Kurma who could use his influence to do major damage in taking over the city; making it even easier for O’bellaDonna, Kurma, and the Raptors to dominate. The possibilities were great and it had all started from a night on the town and a little black dress.
O’bellaDonna squeezed the mayor’s arm to signal her approval. The two snuck from the party, like mischievous jackals, and disappeared out the double doors.
Chapter 2
The Security Guards
“I’m bored,” whined Chelsea.
“Well I’m not,” replied Jackie. She plopped Chelsea upright and fixed her hair. “Do you see those security guys over there?”
Chelsea craned her neck and saw the security personnel who Jackie was referring to. “Yeah, so?”
“Yeah so...I think the one on the left is cute.”
Chelsea looked again. Now that she thought about it, the one on the right was kind of her type.
“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” asked Jackie.
Chelsea grinned. She hadn’t had any fun at the party so far with all the obnoxious drunk people, and hadn’t been around boys for a while. Nina, her old best friend, had always disapproved of leaving Snowhill so it had been hard for her to hang out with boys; even though it was one of her favorite past times, that and stealing obviously.
“Kurma did say get close with some security,” said Chelsea. She gave Jackie the look. Jackie gave it right back.
The pair simultaneously hopped off the bar stools and shimmied across the room, making their way up to the security guards who were blocking off a section of the party. As the girls came closer they saw that there was not only two security guards, but three, the third was giving come-do-me looks at a certain pale, red head who stood in the shadows.
“Well, look here,” teased Jackie to Chelsea. “If it isn’t Rimselda, aka Rimy the red head.”
“I guess she beat us to the punch.”
“Well, it sure does look that way,” Jackie said.
Chelsea said, “Three is better than two I suppose.” Chelsea and Jackie walked over to Rimselda who tried to cover the security guard by walking in front of him.
“He is mine,” she hissed.
Jackie threw
up her hands. “Have him, I want the one on the left,” she whispered in Rimselda’s ear. “Why don’t you introduce us to your new friends,” Jackie said out loud.
Rimselda took the lead and moved her body out the way to show off her new friend. “This is Tommy.”
Tommy, the security guard, leaned forward and shook hands with Chelsea and Jackie then introduced his friends. “Channon and Michale, they are the night security,” he said in his deep voice. “What’s you guy’s names?” he asked the two girls.
I’m Jacquiline,” said Jackie, “and this is Chelsea.” She gave the guys a one over and approved. “Must be boring to just watch a party and not be a part of it.”
Channon, who was brown-skinned and the taller one out of the bunch, laughed out loud. “These people don’t know what a real party looks like.”
“We know how to party, trust,” Michale butted in.
“Is that right?” asked Jackie in a teasing voice.
“Our shift is over at five in the morning. Do you girls live upstairs?” Michale asked Rimselda.
Rimselda looked over at her friends and didn’t know how to respond.
Chelsea saw her friend floundering and came with the save. “Do you guys have to stay here babysitting all the rich kids? Cant somebody else patrol the party?”
Tommy looked at Michale and Channon. He was off in an hour and there were three good looking girls trying to hang, and they were their age. It wasn’t hard to do the math. “Well I’m down to hang,” he said. He waited for his friend’s response. He hoped they weren’t afraid of getting in trouble. All the chaos that was going on outside would be enough to keep the managers off their backs for a while.
“Well I guess I could leave a little earlier than planned,” Channon said.
“What? Naw, let’s just leave for a bit,” Michale coaxed. “We can get Mr. Gregg to watch the cameras.”
“Mr. Gregg is probably downstairs asleep with his old ass,” said Channon.
Jackie ears picked up. There was a camera-room somewhere downstairs, and either a Mr. Gregg was too old, too sleepy, or too blind to watch the camera…perfect. Kurma would like that info.
“Look, we don’t want to get you guys in trouble,” started Jackie. “But, let’s be real, life is too short. We might as well live it up, we’re young. I mean, I’m just trying to have a little fun,” she smiled at Channon. “A little excitement can’t hurt anyone,” Jackie finished and stared directly at him.
Michale nudged Channon in the ribs. This girl was coming on strong and he liked it. If Channon didn’t like her then he sure would try his luck with her. He thought she had a banging body and a go-getter attitude. Although, the blonde one had the innocent thing going on that he kind of liked.
“Look,” Michale spoke up for Channon. “We can go right now. My boy Channon is coming too,” he looked to his friend.
“Yeah, I’m coming,” Channon said reluctantly.
“So that’s settled,” Tommy said out loud. He clapped his hands together and told Michale to radio Mr. Gregg. “Tell him we will be back in an hour and that we have to go patrol the back.”
“Good one Tom… that will take us a minute.”
“Before we leave, go get a bottle of that champagne,” said Jackie.
Tommy snapped his fingers, “Good thinking.” He ran off to the buffet table and returned with three bottles. “You just never know how the nights gonna go,” he told the group as he led them out the side exit door.
Chapter 3:
Doyle Packer
Kurma made sure to not touch Doyle as she was being led to the elevators. Her shoes echoed on the floor and she saw her reflection off the passing mirrors lining the corridor. Kurma’s hair was long and wavy with a hint of brown highlights. She had orange pale lips and thick eyebrows that gave her an exotic look. She was tall for a girl, and had been told many times to model but she wasn’t graceful as a model should be. This was how she looked as a regular girl; in her Raptor state she looked completely unlike her old self. Doyle didn’t seem to mind the way she looked though, on the contrary, he had complimented her on her looks.
Kurma wondered if he was expecting something at the end of the night. She hadn’t dealt with older men very much in her life. She didn’t know how it worked. For the time being she wanted the tour and that was all. She didn’t care what he wanted; whatever it was, he sure wasn’t going to get it.
“You’re going to need my jacket for the place I’m going to take you,” Doyle said, bringing Kurma out of her thoughts.
The couple stepped in the elevator and Doyle pressed the top button. The elevator hummed to life and moved upward in a smooth motion. Kurma stared at his reflection against the bronze-plated walls. He was staring back at her. She kept on staring. They kept this up until they reached the top floor.
Stepping out first, Doyle took his coat off and placed it around Kurma’s shoulders. She flinched a bit, scared that he might touch her hands. He didn’t, and she smiled to smooth over her awkward behavior. Doyle guided Kurma out the door onto a lit, gated walkway.
Kurma could see the top of the crystal perfectly. It lit her eyes up and almost blinded her. The crystal was cut here and there in a circle motion until it peaked into a deadly point.
“People say that is the best part of this entire building,” Doyle whispered into Kurma’s ear.
She felt the heat from him and tried to control her nervousness. She wasn’t used to this kind of male attention unless it was from Santino. “It is very beautiful and such a rare thing on a building as big as this.”
“Look how very little you know,” teased Doyle. “Young people…”
Kurma was slightly offended but ignored it. “So what’s this building got that other places don’t?”
“A lot more than a pretty crystal, Ms. Kurma.”
“Yeah, it’s tall. So is almost every other building in Alexandria.”
Doyle moved behind Kurma and pointed at an empty platform some feet away and began explaining his tower.
“Seventy percent of this roof is solar panel. The entire building has illuminating night lights. We are one of the brightest buildings in the city,” said Doyle as he wrapped his arms around Kurma’s waist. “All the windows have bullet resistant fiber glass. The tenants never have to worry about their safety inside the Olivares Tower. We have the top of the line communication equipment. There are four bunkers in the basement just in case there is a bombing.” He whispered, “Knowing Alexandria, you can never be too careful.”
Kurma was beginning to hate Doyle’s hands and arms around her. She tried to stand as still as possible. All she was here for was a tour, to get information, nothing more. She couldn’t wait to go back downstairs.
Doyle continued, “Just in case of any emergencies, the Olivares Tower has three generators and a high powered, large caliber gun under the right side of the helicopter pads.” Doyle moved Kurma’s body around the right side of the building where two helicopter pads were outlined in blue and red lights. He pointed at the right pad and said, “It’s a beauty. We’ve never actually gotten the chance to use it, but you can never be too cautious with people’s lives.”
Kurma spoke up finally, “It would be almost impossible to get into the tower, basically.”
“Basically.”
Kurma’s mind moved with ideas and plans. She had no idea this building had all these amenities that were so vital to her plan. She had to think quickly about what she would do with Doyle. She needed him to give her all the details of the building.
Doyle kept right on talking, bragging his life away. “The tower has exterior grade solid core doors throughout the lower levels, this place is virtually impenetrable. Also, there is a small green house on the premise for our tenants. We have a top of the line kitchen, room service, two sauna rooms, and five pools…heated pools,” he said after-handily.
Kurma had heard enough. She quickly turned in Doyle’s arms and placed her gloved hands on his chest and
began to massage gently. “It’s getting really cold up here. Let’s go back inside and get a drink to warm us up.”
“I can warm you up just fine out here,” said Doyle, then he went in for a kiss.
Kurma quickly darted her head aside and his kiss landed on her neck. She felt his big hands grope her body and she wanted to retch.
Kurma twisted her body out of Doyle’s grip and began to walk away. “Come on, let’s go back and party a bit. The night is just getting started.”
Doyle looked aggravated but went along anyway. There was nothing wrong with a little chase.
Kurma waited as he joined her back by the elevator door. She was shivering with cold and anxiety. When she got nervous things went wrong. She had to keep calm and finish out the night. Kurma had every intention of ducking and dodging Doyle until the time was right.
Doyle came from behind and palmed Kurma’s butt, making her jump. The doors opened just in time because she would have elbowed him in the gut if it hadn’t. Stay focus and think about the bigger picture, she reminded herself.
The two stood in the elevator shoulder to shoulder. Doyle was staring Kurma down in the reflection on the bronze walls. Kurma, on the other hand, was avoiding even looking in his direction. She was almost at the finish line, flirting with Doyle wasn’t going to get her any farther than she already was tonight.
The elevator stopped on the lobby floor. Kurma swiftly removed Doyle’s jacket from her shoulders and handed it back to him. She turned and looked him squarely in the face.
“Drinks all around Mr. Packer, are you ready?”
Doyle smiled like a kid in a candy store. What he didn’t know was that Kurma wasn’t going to be the one drunk by the end of the night.
Chapter 4:
The Proposal
Chelsea slipped off her heels and ran after Tommy. The group was in a huge pool house with checkered green and white stone floors. All around them were long lit chandeliers bouncing light off of the walls. The pool lights gave the room a peculiar glow and the plants that were scattered around the room gave off dark shadows. All in all, the pool was spectacular. There were two diving boards high up and a large rock wall where water cascaded over the side. Chelsea loved to swim and loved the water even more. There was barely a time when she actually got to swim. Now, here at the Olivares Tower, she wanted to do nothing else.