Woman King (23 page)

We were combustible elements, alone in a
140-year-old castle with nothing but a bottle of Côtes du Rhône and
some lit candles for company. Once we began kissing, neither of us
wanted to break the connection, sinking onto the floor where we had
been standing. My doubts quickly disappeared, replaced instead by
unbridled lust.

William had managed to quickly remove my
jacket and t-shirt, leaving only my bra covering my upper body. The
cold air hit me and caused me to shudder. He ran his kisses down my
neck and across my collarbone. He used his fingers to explore,
eventually arriving at my breast and moving aside the lace of my
bra. We both gasped as his fingers made contact with my nipple. The
differences in temperature made the experience both excruciating
and delicious. I was overheated, and William’s mouth and the air
around us were cool as he explored my body. The sting of the cold
was both unbearable and pleasurable. I shivered and moaned, bucked
and arched. I felt inconsolable and insatiable. Our kisses were
long, luxurious affairs. Cradled in his arms, my body felt
strangely like one of his guitars, being played fret-by-fret,
note-by-note, transformed into a beautiful song.

Somehow we’d managed to overcome the
awkwardness of the evening and recover our connection to one
another. I should have been content to stay that way for a long
while, but for some reason a practical thought popped into my head.
I hadn’t told William of my work with the Council. As much as I
wanted this to turn into something more, I didn’t want to get too
much farther in our
entanglements
without telling him. I had
a nagging feeling that he would want to know. With regret, I broke
our kiss and placed my hand between us. William looked down at my
hand and smiled.

“Am I going to fast for
you
this
time?” he asked.

I shook my head. “No, but I think I need to
tell you something before we get more, um, involved—it was the only
euphemism I could think of at that moment. We separated and I
grabbed my shirt, suddenly chilled by his absence.

“OK,” he said, cautiously. “You have my
attention.”

“Do you remember when you told me that Elsa’s
arrival was unusual, and that it probably meant I was about to do
something important?” He nodded, an inscrutable look set on his
face.

“You were right. She introduced me to an
organization called the Council. Do you know it?”

William nodded, his face registering a hint
of surprise. “I do, but finish your story first.”

“Not long after I started training with her,
Elsa introduced me to Gabriel Laurent, the current director. He
told me that it was rare for a human to have such acute skills and
offered me a job. I told you I’m running a political campaign, but
I didn’t tell you that it was Gabriel who helped me get the job.”
His silence caused me to ramble on a bit. “Anyway, it seemed
important to tell you about my connection. You say you know about
them? I don’t know much about how life works for Others. Is the
Council something everyone knows about?”

“You must be the first human to ever work for
the Council, or at the very least, one of the few ever asked,” he
said. “Congratulations, Olivia. It’s quite an honor.”

It didn’t sound as if he was thrilled. “Why
don’t you like the Council?”

William did not reply immediately; he seemed
to be choosing his words carefully. “I suppose we could offer each
other the same apology,” he said. “I also once worked for the
Council.”

“Once, as in past tense,” I said. “You don’t
now?”

“I haven’t been in contact for some time,” he
said. “It never occurred to me that Elsa would lead you to them. I
didn’t see that connection coming. It’s funny, I didn’t think that
part of my past would come up for some time.”

“And now?” I asked, sensing that he was
holding something back.

“Now, I suppose I should tell you a little
bit more about myself,” he said. “But first, let’s get out of here.
We can talk on the way back to your house.”

I’d always heard the advice that couples
should not discuss work in bed, and now I could see why.
Reluctantly I got up from the floor, dressed and followed William
to his car. Once we were inside, he started to speak.

“I know the Council. Remember, darlin, my
father was a U.S. Army officer. He had a deep sense of honor and
patriotism that did not die when he became a vampire. I was no
different; perhaps it’s why he and I lived so easily together over
the decades. As I’ve told you, after I was reborn we left for
Paris. We arrived in 1863, long after cholera, the Revolution and
even the Prussian Army had ravaged its citizens. We managed to live
in relative peace for many years, watching the Eiffel Tower rise
along the way as a part of the World’s Fair. Finally though, the
whims of humans caught up with us.

“When World War I began,” he continued. “My
father wanted us to join the Allied forces—France and
Britain—against Germany. He felt a deep loyalty to the French for
their assistance in the Revolution. He convinced me to become
involved, to support France. I was not a full-fledged French
citizen. I had no papers to enlist. I found the perfect solution in
the American Ambulance Corps. The United States had not yet joined
the war in 1916, but money was pouring in to support the
Allies.

A group of men founded a volunteer ambulance
service to help reduce the distance injured soldiers had to travel
from the Western Front. My father went back to America to see what
he could do to hasten their entry into the war, but the United
States had little appetite for getting involved,” William said,
pausing for a moment. “How much do you know about the war?”

“The obvious details,” I admitted.

“It was horrific, I can tell you,” he said.
“Humans are so fragile. These men were living in enormous trenches
that were damp and filled with the blood of the dead. I could smell
the rotting bodies for miles.”

“You must have realized the value of your
work,” I said. “You were able to withstand things a human
couldn’t.”

“I might have seen the value, if I had
witnessed a shred of common sense from the generals. It was so
similar to the Civil War; man upon man massacred, as if humans
could be reproduced indefinitely. On any given day, France easily
sacrificed 60,000 men. Russia lost more than one million solders.
Over and over the generals sent their men to slaughter, often never
moving their lines more than a foot or two in the process. And here
I was, racing to drive these mangled young men, many younger than
myself, to a hospital so they could be patched up and sent back out
on a fool’s errand.”

“I don’t understand, William. How does the
Council fit into this?”

“One evening I was out in the forest near
Lille hunting for something to eat when I came across a group of
men traveling in the cover of darkness. They were like me. There
was another vampire, a werewolf and a powerful witch. His name was
Pierre Laurent; Gabriel’s great-grandfather. Pierre recognized what
I was immediately, and asked me what I was doing in the area. I
told him about the ambulance corps. He in turn told me he would
find more drivers to assist.

“The next day he arrived with additional
drivers, including himself. Over those days and weeks, he slowly
introduced me to the Council and its mission. The war was not
supposed to be the Council’s main focus, but no one wanted to sit
by while the human leadership of the world worked to slowly kill
off an entire generation of young men.”

“And then what happened?” I asked. “Did you
continue to work for them?”

William didn’t reply immediately. He was
looking out the window and at first I thought he would not answer
me.

“I did,” he said after a while. “I spent many
years working for them, traveling back and forth between the United
States and Europe. Eventually I quit.”

“Why? Why did you stop?”

“I stopped because I began to feel that
humans deserved their own fates. I started to believe that our
intervention was a wasted effort.”

By now we had reached my house and William
had pulled into the driveway, letting the car idle while we spoke.
I thought of inviting him in, but didn’t think he would accept the
invitation. I knew I had to choose my next words carefully.

“Look, I’m not sure yet what this is all
about, but it sounds like you made a difference during the war. We
don’t always have a choice in the bigger decisions that are made,
but you helped save lives and reduce suffering. My job isn’t nearly
as important, but I am trying to do something helpful. I am trying
to ensure that good people get elected. People who will work toward
fewer wars, and more opportunities for stability and
prosperity.”

William shook his head. “I’m sorry, I don’t
see it that way. The Council gives your candidate an advantage. I
know the Laurent family; they are powerful witches who can bend
people to their will. You are highly empathic and probably a little
telepathic, you know what the crowd wants and you can help make
sure they get it. As far as I’m concerned, you are changing the
fate of another human being. Maybe he isn’t meant to be elected to
office, maybe humans deserve to live with electing the wrong
person.”

Now it was my turn to object. “I don’t see it
that way,” I said, repeating his words to me. “Levi is a good
person, I can’t make him
into
that. I’m not deceiving
voters. I’m making sure Levi communicates to the best of his
ability.”

“And what if the voters want a war monger or
a racist?” William asked sharply.

“Then I can’t help them,” I said, confused
about our discussion. “What is it you really object to, William?
I’m not controlling the minds of voters. I am listening to them and
helping Levi win by really connecting with people. Not by making up
catchy slogans or sowing fears about far-off dangers that may never
happen.”

“I object because I don’t think we should
meddle in the lives of humans, period,” he said. “They are
incapable of learning from history. They are incapable of resisting
their worst urges for power. They should be left alone to their own
devices.”

Our conversation had certainly hit a wall. I
needed to put some distance between us. “One thing about humans you
should probably remember,” I said as I reached for the car door to
get out, “is that I am one, and I don’t have such a poor vision of
our collective destiny as you do. So I’ll say good night. I’d say
thanks for a lovely evening, but I wouldn’t want to say something
trite because I think that’s what you want to hear.” I slammed his
car door and turned to walk away. I was barely up the walkway when
he reached me, his quick vampire reflexes giving him the advantage
of speed.

“Olivia, I’m sorry,” he said. “That was a lot
to drop at your feet.”

“I can see you have strong feelings about the
Council,” I said. “The question is whether they are stronger than
your feelings for me.”

William frowned. “I thought we were having a
discussion, Olivia. Can’t I express my opinion?”

“I don’t know. Can you do it without making
me feel like a carny sideshow?”

William let out a sigh. “I am sorry. Years of
living alone can do that to you,” he said. “I will try to be more
careful with my opinions.” He walked me the rest of the way to my
door and kissed me good night.

I went inside, tossing my keys and purse on
the floor. As I laid my head against the door, I wondered how it
could be that after everything I had experienced recently I could
still be so naïve. What did I think William had done with all of
the years of his life? He had died as a soldier in America’s
bloodiest conflict, and been reborn a vampire. The tattooed angel
on his back made more sense now. It was astonishing to think I had
been sitting in the car with someone who walked the fields of
Belgium in 1916. I had a connection to the world’s history…the only
problem was, he didn’t seem to have emerged with a very good
opinion of the human race.

I decided I would try not to take it
personally

****

I woke up the next morning knowing I needed
to hit the books if I was going to have a meaningful relationship
with William. My degree was in American history, not world history,
and my education felt incomplete. The man I wanted to be with had
walked across the Western Front and watched the dawn of
Prohibition. While my education may have been extensive, to truly
understand William, I would need to delve deeper.

Luckily for me, my best friend ran the
library system. With one stroke of a computer keyboard, Lily could
locate any book I needed. I had texted her on the way over to make
sure she was free.

When I arrived at her office, she was sitting
at her desk, reading her email. I noticed she was wearing new
eyeglasses, a pair of thick black rectangular frames that had
become a fashion statement for the elite nerds of cities
everywhere.

“I like your glasses,” I said as a way to
catch her attention. “You look like a very sexy East German
spy.”

“Why thank you,” Lily said, fingering the
frames. “I know they’re a bit of a fashion cliché, but I like how
they look.” She turned away from her computer monitor and looked up
at me. “What brings you to the Main Library today?” she asked. “I
thought you were off to Palo Alto.”

I slumped on the edge of her desk and hid my
face in my arms. “I am going to try to head down there for a few
hours,” I said, “But Levi is out of town and after last night, I’ve
decided I need a quick research assignment.”

“Hmmm,” Lily said. “What happened last
night?”

“If you must know, the main thing is that I
have been acting like a silly, moonstruck child,” I said. “William
is vastly more complex than I ever imagined.”