Woman King

CHAPTER 32

“Wake up, sleepy head,” William said, as he opened the shutters on the windows in my bedroom. It took me a few moments to remember where I was, thanks to my recent vagabond status. When I finally opened my eyes and focused, I found William standing over me, a steaming mug in his hands.

“You brought me espresso? Now I really am serious; you can never leave,” I said, gratefully.

He was smiling, but said nothing as he handed me the cup. I sipped the coffee, savoring its warmth as I slowly awakened. Not long after, my stomach growled, reminding me that I was overdue to eat. It had been a late night and dinner had been an early affair—mainly snacks inside the Council as we watched the videos.

“I’m going downstairs for a bowl of cereal,” I said. “Care to join me in the kitchen?”

William nodded and we descended to the kitchen. Once there, I quickly got the impression that there was something he wanted to talk about.

“What’s on our agenda today?” I asked, pouring some shredded wheat into my bowl. “I can tell you have something in mind.”

“As a matter of fact, I do,” William said. “I’d like to take you to meet someone. He owns a school that teaches fencing and other forms of self-defense. Interested?”

The prospect of meeting a new person from William’s world was intriguing. He was my lover and my confidant. But other than seeing his band mates, I knew very little about where he went, what he did or with whom, when we were separated. I was eager to change that and here was a chance to do so.

“I’m game,” I said. “What should I wear?”

“Workout clothes would be a good idea,” he said with a smile.

“What are we waiting for?” I said. “Let’s go.”

An hour after our conversation, we pulled up in front of a nondescript brick warehouse in a part of San Francisco known as Dogpatch, an eastern neighborhood near the waterfront. There was a small sign painted on the door of the building that read San Francisco School of Fencing, in large black cursive letters. William walked up to the door and knocked three times. A man opened the door, looked me over and then embraced William. They began to converse in a language I didn’t recognize. I stood there awkwardly, wondering when I would be introduced. Finally, the two of them turned to face me.

“Olivia, this is my brother, Josef,” he said. “Josef, this is Olivia.”

A petite, wiry man with short black hair and intriguing dark eyes peered back at me. He looked nothing like William and then it dawned on me that he wasn’t his brother by blood—at least not in the human sense.

“Your father,” I said, knowing I didn’t have to finish my sentence.

“Josef is Czech,” William explained. “My father saved him from dying alone in a field after the Nazis had wounded him.”

“I was a member of the Resistance,” Josef said. “I was caught outside after curfew and chased into a field, where they shot me in the back, and left me for dead. William and his father had been waiting on the other side of the field to receive my message. That night, I left the human world, but I gained a brother.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” I said. “William, why didn’t you tell me you had a brother?”

Josef threw an arm around William protectively. “Vampires are like onions, Olivia. It takes many peels of the layers before you know all of our secrets.”

“I see,” I said. “Are there any other brothers I should know about?”

William shook his head. “No, there were only the three of us, now just the two of us.”

“William convinced me to move to San Francisco some years ago,” Josef said. “The weather here is very agreeable. And I enjoy teaching people how to defend themselves.”

Josef led us inside and shut the door. Following him, we walked down a short hallway that led to a large workout room. A few smaller offices lined the perimeter of the larger space. A set of lockers occupied one corner of the larger room, and in another corner, a dozen or more hooks were attached to the wall. Several fencing uniforms hung from the hooks, as well as a brown leather jacket and wool cap. A portable punching bag made of red and blue leather had been placed in the center of the room, but was designed to be rolled away when not in use.

While I was examining my surroundings, I heard the front door open again and a set of footsteps came down the hallway toward us. Within seconds I sensed it was Elsa. William met Elsa in the hallway and shook her hand.

“I asked her to come,” he said, turning to face me. “I meant what I told you last night, darlin. If you want to pick fights with the likes of Nikola, then you need to be prepared to defend yourself. ”

“What do you have in mind?” I asked, feeling a little uneasy. I’d never raised my hand against another person in my life. I wasn’t sure I could.

“I want you to train with Josef,” William said. “Elsa is here because I thought you would feel more comfortable doing the work with her.”

Elsa tossed her gym bag down in the corner of the room. “This will be good,” she said. “I need to brush up on my skills a bit, too. It’s been ages since I had to engage in hand-to-hand combat.”

“Hand-to-hand combat?” I repeated. “When did you do that?”

“I’ve been alive since the sixteenth century,” she said. “There were times when I had to defend myself. Often I guarded my tribe while the men were off hunting. And then there is also the fact that time-walkers are not always welcome in villages when they appear…suddenly.”

Josef, who had been standing slightly apart from us in the middle of the studio, was listening to our conversation. He rubbed his hands together and clapped twice. “A human and a time-walker,” he said. “This should be interesting.”

“Wait,” I said. “Can you clarify what you mean by train?” I asked William.

“He means that you will come and work at my studio a few days a week until you are sufficiently ready,” Josef said.

“Ready for what?” I asked, feeling yet again as if I was entering another phase of my life where I jumped in with both feet before looking.

“What you least expect, of course,” he said. “What you least expect. Now please, let’s get started. In my school, I teach a combination of fencing, Krav Maga and savate, or French kickboxing.

“Why fencing?” Elsa asked.

“For stamina and to build fast reflexes,” Josef answered. “You have to be ready to defend yourself, and to be able to quickly get away from someone who attacks you. I will not teach you to pick a fight, but I will teach you how to end one.”

As I watched William in the corner of the room, I felt a mixture of both anger and admiration. I knew what he was doing was necessary. I did have a taste to pick a fight with the Serbs who robbed the bank, and at the moment, chances were good that I would be injured if they or their minions came after me. But I didn’t like surprises or mandates, and I felt as if I had been given both in the span of minutes: a brother I hadn’t known existed, and an obligation to work with Josef. What would happen, I wondered, if I refused to undergo the training?

Reservations aside, I decided to give it a try. I was in good physical shape, thanks to Elsa. Surely I could at least hold my own for one afternoon.

Of course, I was mistaken.

We began to spar, jogging around one another. The first time Elsa took a swing at me, I fell down immediately. I simply had no will to hit back. My body rebelled against the very act; my arm felt as if it were pinned to my side. Fortunately, we were wearing a mountain of padding, so the only thing hurt so far was my pride.

“Come on. Attack, Olivia!” Josef said to me, and so I gave Elsa a slight push with my hands.

“Not good enough,” he said. “Come on. William tells me you taunted Nikola Pajović. What prompted you to do that?”

“I didn’t like his attitude,” I said.

“Try to find that energy again. When Elsa comes forward to strike you, raise one arm to block her, and with the other palm, hit her with all your strength.” We went through the exercise again and again, and though I always managed to block her, I didn’t have the constitution to hit her.

After a few more unsuccessful bouts, Josef brushed Elsa away and leaned in next to me, his lips just inches from my ear.

“Where is your energy, your passion, Olivia?” he whispered. “Perhaps you have not been properly schooled in the ways of passion? You are human after all. Maybe you need someone other than my brother to teach you. Maybe another vampire, who won’t be so gentle.”

At the sound of his voice, my body betrayed me. My cheeks turned pink, and I felt my pulse quicken at his taunt. But his jeering worked. With one hand, I took a swing straight at him, my palm stiff and flat, and caught him hard across the face. With my other hand, I pushed against him, using all the force I could muster, causing him to take a step backwards. The slap made a loud noise, and my stomach lurched.

Josef, however, was thrilled. “Yes! You see, you found it…your anger,” he said rubbing his cheek. “Don’t lose it… Nikola is ruthless! If you want to hunt him, you will need to maintain that edge.”

I looked over at William to gauge his reaction. He peeled himself off the wall and came over to me; putting both hands on my face as he pulled me toward him.

“Josef knows you are with me, Olivia.”

“He goaded me into hitting him,” I said, tears lurking at the corner of my eyes. “I don’t want to do this. I don’t want to fight.”

William wiped a tear away with his thumb. “You can’t have it both ways. You want to pursue Nikola. You want to work for Gabriel. No one wants to fight, Olivia, but when the time comes, you’ve got to be able to defend yourself,” he said. “You asked me to accept your life, your work. The only way I will be able to relax is if I know Josef has taught you to take care of yourself.”

Josef was standing in the corner, dark and brooding. I knew what he was thinking, because I felt it too. There was an attraction between us. I could feel his desire. As usual, my thoughts came through loud and clear.

“Vampires are competitive and covet what others have,” William said, with a gentle laugh. “It’s in our nature, though some of us can ignore our impulses. But you will be safe with Josef, he is my brother.”

I didn’t doubt William’s sincerity, but I wasn’t so sure about Josef, who at the moment, seemed to hold my fate in his hands.

“OK, I said, warily. “I will do the training.”

From then on, training, reading and campaigning became the three activities that consumed my days. I rose at dawn to meet Josef at his studio—sometimes with Elsa, sometimes alone. Then, after ninety minutes of sparring, I would return home, shower and drive to Palo Alto. My days were filled with political luncheons, walking neighborhood shopping districts, visiting the editorial boards of newspapers and writing last-minute direct-mail pieces.

Flush with additional funds from generous donors, we created targeted direct mail to send to voters, along with radio and television commercials. In the last few days, I had been on location for hours as Levi was filmed taking walks with firefighters, police officers and small-business owners. Our field operations were relentless. We worked every angle, pressing to locate as many hidden pockets of voters as we could before the campaign came to a close.

I reported to the Council weekly, meeting Gabriel in the evenings at their offices to brief him and the rest of the team. He was pleased with the progress in our race, especially since many other campaigns across the country were faltering. It’s a volatile time in U.S. politics, with the economy sluggish and so many people out of work in many parts of the nation. Incumbents of both political parties are facing tough races. For many, their only shortcoming is being the current office holder, but when mass-group dynamics take over in a race, it can be very difficult to win.

In the midst of this frenetic schedule, Elsa moved out, taking with her the few possessions she had from my guest room. She gave no explanation, but I didn’t need one. It was obvious she and Aidan had become inseparable. After so many years of walking the planet alone, it was lovely to see that Elsa had found a mate. I didn’t pretend to understand how her penance worked or how much time she had left to fulfill her debt, but I assumed she knew. Or perhaps she and Aidan were simply happy to enjoy the time they had together.

By comparison, my love life was tepid most of the time, thanks to the campaign. Periodically, William accompanied me to my appointments for the day, but he had his own businesses to attend to. He continued to perform with his band at night, though I wasn’t often able to watch him play. JP and Halbert, meanwhile, kept their distance. I saw them both lurking together at a debate between Lacy and Levi sponsored by the San Jose Chamber of Commerce, but neither of them approached me. JP limited his stories to current campaign events and seemed to prefer to call my staff to obtain a schedule or request a quote.

When William wasn’t spending the night, I would crawl into bed and pore through a stack of books I’d requested from the library. Lily, who delivered the books personally, would stay for a quick drink or meet me for dinner. She also was very busy at work, but we texted one another everyday, staying in touch as best we could.

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.