Woman King

CHAPTER 28

Our game plan in place, I sat down to write Levi’s speech. The words were swimming around in my head, and I was eager to get them down on paper. As I typed away, I raised one eye from of the computer screen to glance at the others in the room. Gabriel appeared to be introducing William to Levi, who glanced in my direction, a look of surprise on his face. William must have seemed like a man conjured up out of thin air, and I wondered how Gabriel was explaining my new paramour to his old friend. I decided not to guess. It was more important to work than to speculate at this point.

I wrote for a few more minutes and then glanced up again, amused to see the three men consulting what looked to be the room service menu. Another test, I thought. William would have to feign the absence of an appetite in front of Levi, or find another way to distract him from his lack of interest in food. Again, I opted to work, rather than worry. William had survived more than 100 years without me, so I was certain he would manage this evening. By the time the food was delivered, I had a decent first draft of a speech for the team to review.

Gabriel, it turned out, helped play a role in William’s diversion. The meal he’d ordered consisted of raw fish. Sushi and sashimi are foods I knew William’s system could tolerate in small doses.

“It’s better not to eat a heavy meal when we need to be thinking on our toes,” he said, as the waiter wheeled in a cart with assorted fish and a bottle of vodka on ice. “We can always order more if we’re hungry later.”

I watched William out of the corner of my eye as he picked up a pair of chopsticks and deftly nibbled on a piece of tuna. The shot of vodka went down more easily, his system long accustomed to hard alcohol. Still, his ability to blend in was admirable, and I concluded that vampires were the best chameleons I’d ever encountered.

I turned out to be the one without the appetite—too keyed up to eat. I managed a few bites and then took a shot of vodka for courage. It was difficult to believe as I surveyed the room that only the night before, I’d been floating in a ten-feet-deep, salt-water pool at Hearst Castle, making love and drinking Champagne.

Elections once again were proving to be a lot like a long drive on a narrow mountain road; one false move and you were in danger of swerving over the side. This speech was to be our way of getting back on course safely. I hoped we could do it without any more injuries.

After the meal, I handed out copies of the speech. Levi got out of his chair, walked over to a desk nearby and began making notes on his copy.

Gabriel handed his pages right back to me, saying, “This is his speech; I will let him make the first comments.”

Levi returned to our circle of chairs, handing me his notes.

“You’ve always been a good writer, Olivia,” he said. “But this has to come from my heart if it’s going to be credible, so I’ve made a few modifications.”

His changes were great. I nodded. “Let me update your remarks, and then we can rehearse.”

By midnight, Levi had completed several practice runs of his speech, as we made minor tweaks to the language along the way. By 12:30 we disbanded, Levi and Gabriel going to their rooms in the hotel. Maggie was bunking in the spare room in our suite, and had long since retreated to get some rest after what had been one of the toughest days of her young political career. I stood in the window of the room massaging my neck, listening as William locked the door to the suite.

“I need to try to be more ergonomic,” I said, as he took over pressing on the tender pressure points in my neck and back. “Political campaigns are hard on the human body.”

“Seems that way,” he said. “It feels like you have a rock embedded in your shoulder.”

I laughed. “That’s been there for a while, if you try to remove it, my arm will fall off.”

“As soon as this campaign is over, we’re going on a vacation,” he said, continuing to knead my muscles. “Some place where you can relax and stop thinking about everyone else’s problems.”

“Hmmm, sounds lovely,” I murmured as the muscles in my neck finally relented into a relaxed posture. “Let’s get through tomorrow and then we can start thinking about vacations.”

I watched the reflection of William’s face in the window break into a smile. “I’ve been observing you since this all began this morning. You always do what’s necessary first, regardless of your needs or wants. I understand now how Gabriel came to choose you for his team; you seem to have an abundance of something that is rare in humans.”

“What’s that?”

“Discipline,” he said, as he walked us to our bedroom.

Once there, I quickly undressed and collapsed into bed, managing a feeble “good night” to William before I dozed off.

Discipline was definitely what I needed to get out of bed the next morning when my alarm went off. The first beeps of the small plastic box on the nightstand had gone unnoticed, but when my phone chimed in with the backup alarm, I opened my eyes. It took a few moments to remember where I was, having failed to sleep in my own bed the last two nights. Finally though, I brought myself up to speed and rolled over to look for William. I hadn’t expected to see him, since sleeping wasn’t a vampire’s main form of leisure.

I didn’t I mind though, since I don’t like to snuggle when I sleep. Lying flat on my back with nothing, and no one, near me is my preferred way to slumber, so William was the perfect bedmate. Reluctantly, I got out of bed and went in search of the workout clothes I had hastily packed the day before.

As I pulled on my running tights and a fleece, I began to think about the day’s schedule. I was grateful to get in some exercise before the day started. Fortunately for me, the Four Seasons had a world-class fitness center only a few floors away by elevator. After lacing up my shoes, I padded down the hallway in search of William. As expected, he was reading in the living room, a guitar propped against his chair.

“What are you reading?” I asked, knowing he heard me coming down the hallway.

“Come and give me a kiss and I will tell you,” he said, setting his book on a side table. “You slept well? Feel OK?”

“Despite the utter chaos of yesterday, yes, I do,” I said, as I settled into his lap. “I went to sleep feeling very optimistic; we’ll see if my intuition holds true.”

I received a kiss for my optimism, a very deep long kiss, and then a second more gentle kiss in the small of my neck near my shoulder. Such intimate, peaceful play was new to me, and it made my heart soar. It would have been wonderful to stay in his arms for the remainder of the day, but I was back to reality. “I need to go to the gym,” I said rising from his lap. “I need to get some exercise in before the day grows too long.”

“I’ll go too,” he said. “Give me a minute to change.”

True to his word, he reappeared in a pair of black warm-up pants and a T-shirt, and we quickly set off for the elevators. I was not at all surprised to see Levi and Gabriel both jogging away on treadmills as we walked through the door of the gym. The only person missing was Maggie, who I assumed, at her tender young age, had decided sleep was more important than exercise.

There being no need for pleasantries at this hour, we all jumped into our morning routines. I stepped on to the treadmill next to Gabriel and began what I hoped would be a three-mile run.

My three miles concluded forty minutes later, I lifted some weights and did some push-ups on the mat next to William, who was engrossed in his own routine.

We left the gym as a group, but went our separate ways, agreeing to meet at the campaign office at 2 pm, one hour before the press conference. William also left, saying he had some business to attend to and would see me at the press conference.

I stayed behind in the room, intent on working, hoping to call back reporters and review last minute details before the press conference. My plans were disrupted immediately, however, by a series of taunting texts from Stoner Halbert, all saying the same thing:

Resign.

It’s not too late to avoid embarrassing yourself - SH

I picked up my phone, tempted to throw it out the window. The last time Halbert had texted me, months ago, I’d rolled up into a ball on my bed and cried. Now, I felt like punching him in the mouth. My days of running from my enemies were over, so I scrolled to the top of the messages section on my phone where Halbert’s number was listed and pressed the call button, wondering if my nemesis would answer the phone.

“That was quick,” Halbert sneered. “ I had no idea you would fold so easily.”

“I didn’t call to resign, you idiot,” I said. “I think all that black magic is rotting your brain.”

“Then why did you call? Just wanted to hear my voice?”

“I called to tell you to knock it off,” I said. “For someone with the devil on his side, you’re behaving like a desperate loser. I want you to stop bothering me.”

“Or what?” he asked. “What will you do?”

I was on the verge of saying something similar to my remarks in the café—threatening him with some painful retribution involving his limbs being separated from his body, but then I remembered that cell phones could record conversations.

“You don’t think I would be stupid enough to threaten you on the phone on the eve of my press conference?” I asked.

Halbert was silent, and it occurred to me that perhaps he’d hoped for just that situation.

“Goodbye, Halbert,” I said, “I’d tell you to go to hell, but then I’d only be encouraging you.”

After I hung up, I tried my best to calm down and focus on my work. Halbert did not contact me again. A few hours later, I was stuffing my laptop into its bag when I heard my phone ring. I picked up the phone with trepidation, hoping it wasn’t Halbert.

It wasn’t. It was JP, so I pressed the talk button to hear what he had to say.

“Were you planning on inviting me to the press conference?” he asked, without offering so much as a hello. Even through the phone, I could feel his anger.

“Hi, JP.” I said, trying to sound casual. “I believe your newsroom received an advisory from the campaign like every other news outlet.”

“Yes, but were you going to call me?”

“You know, things have been a little busy these last twenty-four hours,” I said. “I guess it slipped my mind.”

“So you have no comment on the video,” he pressed.

“We’ll be commenting at 3 pm today,” I said, trying hard not to show my anger.

“I’m asking if you have anything to say yourself about the video,” he said, his voice tinged with sarcasm. “Or about the fact that I saw you leave with that man. I saw him with you again last night at the café.”

Oh, but did I ever have words to say… none of which could ever be uttered on the record. “Any comment from me or this campaign will come at 3 pm. Now if you’ll excuse me, I really have to go. I expect I’ll see you shortly.”

I pressed the red button to end the call and closed my eyes.

I’d been so busy trying to find a solution to our debacle that I hadn’t had much time to consider his role in all of this. Was it fair to be angry with JP? Or was JP just doing his job? Had Halbert’s demon provoked Richard? Or had those horrible sentiments been lurking inside him, just waiting to come out? Maybe that’s what evil does; it brings our worst fears and prejudices to the surface, it strips away our ability to silence those voices in favor of patience, or compassion. I’d told William that I couldn’t change a bad man into a good one using my skills, but maybe the devil worked differently. Perhaps he could take a good man and reduce him to his worst impulses.

In the end, I realized, it didn’t matter. During the countless hours I’d spent talking with voters, it was clear that they didn’t care about Richard Lyon. They cared about Levi Barnes. They wanted to see what he would do, whether he would take responsibility, if he would be accountable. If so, they were prepared to move on and not wallow in the scandal.

The press, on the other hand, would prefer the scandal to live on, for more details to emerge and for side players to continue their outrageous behavior. If we could deny the media of any further fuel—steal the oxygen for their fire—then the news cycle would close. The plan was for Richard to disappear. Levi would apologize, announce his donation and we would get back to talking about Lacy and her policies. That was what this election was supposed to be about in the first place.