William's Tale (10 page)

“I won’t tell anyone the secret.”

Bob eyed her suspiciously and then pointed at her. “You don’t know.”

Jackie confidently stared him in the eyes. “Oh, I know.” She leaned in closer. “And I know he’s here tonight.”

Bob looked around, carefully scrutinizing the crowd. She suspected the masks and alcohol made it hard to judge, but Bob knew whom to look for. She noticed his eyes stop on the man with the vampire costume standing at the auction table.

Damn. She had been right.

“It’s Mr. Dracula,” she said.

“Shhhh,” Bob managed to slur out. “It’s a secret.”

She glared over to the vampire and she-devil vixon. Not that she cared, but how dare they stand that close together and be that affectionate as they read through the bid items! Steve was at this party with her, not that devil. Was it too much to ask that he not try to pick up another woman while already on a date?

The devil smiled and patted him on the arm, as though she were to be the recipient of the auction if Steve won. Jackie's eyes narrowed in on Steve. It really wasn’t her place to be jealous, especially since she had no loving feelings towards the man. But the betrayal of what he was doing, and especially since it was again on school property, made Jackie madder than hell.

Once again, he’d made a fool of her in front of her coworkers, and this time she had set herself up by agreeing to be the man’s date. Noticing mini cheesecakes sitting on the refreshment stand, Jackie bid good–bye to her diet and reached for the creamy pastry.

The clock was ticking, and William knew he only had a few minutes left of Sulie’s help to find Jackie. He reached into his heavily weighted cape pocket, pulled out his mobile phone, and noticed no new calls had come in from the team. The schedule had Sulie working the ten o’clock shift, and she would be leaving soon. He wasn’t working tonight, but was on call, so he thought he might leave with Sulie — even before the announcement of the raffle winners.

He again walked the perimeter of the party, passing tables filled with district co–workers who were either tipsy, bored, or gossiping amongst themselves. Sulie had seen Jackie once on television when she shook hands with the President, so she went to check the two closest ladies’ rooms. William suspected Jackie had only made an appearance and had left the party within minutes of arriving, but he appreciated Sulie checking none–the–less.

With William’s vampire hearing, he heard someone mention Jackie’s name, so he sought out a table of ladies sitting quietly in the corner of the room gossiping about many of the party–goers. The gaggle of hens clucked about everyone’s costumes, their hairstyles, and how drunk some of their co–workers were getting.

Could these ladies here themselves talking? How much cattier could they even be?

He understood any social gathering lent itself to an onslaught of nosy busybodies who had nothing better to do than to put others down, he just had never experienced it before. He was spying and getting the information he so desperately wanted, though — so wasn't going to complain.

He stood against the wall behind their table, blending in the best he could, and listened in. The phrase “a fly on the wall” crossed his mind, and he felt silly for such a guise, but if it helped him track Jackie down, so be it.

He thought to compel them to continue talking about Jackie, but these ladies seemed more than willing to focus on her and her date. The women didn’t even notice William hiding in the shadows as they viciously tore into their coworker.

The ladies ranted about Jackie’s insane decision to give Steve another chance, and how desperate she must be to take the cheating bastard back. They also criticized her outfit. They thought the gold dress made her resemble the Academy Awards Oscar statue, and that the feathered mask made her look like an ostrich who had just pulled her head from the sand.

Of the four ladies, only one offered a kind word for Jackie. It was a backhanded compliment though, as William assumed she tried to fit in with the rest of the spiteful women. The somewhat–kind woman mentioned Jackie’s father and how difficult it must be to mourn the loss of her mother and settle her father into a retirement home.

While listening, he gathered Jackie was struggling, and nearly failing, as a teacher of art and music. Through the three ladies’ loathing remarks, William could tell the fourth lady was trying to defend Jackie. She offered excuses of time spent with her father and with students, giving them tutoring and support in all their other subjects. William realized that Jackie spent nearly every moment of her day either at the school, with the students, or with her elderly father.

It wasn’t until one of the snide women distastefully commented on Jackie’s lack of a husband, citing her lack of a dating life over the last few months, that William realized he had misjudged Jackie’s love life. She wasn’t a player. Steve had played her. What cut William deeply was the fourth woman’s comment that she thought Jackie still loved Steve. The remark was met with a barrage of not–so–polite comments by the other women at the table.

William had heard enough. He needed to find a woman trimmed in gold and… tell her what? That she needed better friends? Yes. That she deserved a better man in her life than Steve? Probably. Tell her that he, a vampire, was the man of her dreams? Not quite so much.

He needed to find Sulie and get a woman’s opinion, but not until he compelled the four ladies to no longer speak ill of Jackie.

“There you are!” Sulie said as she pulled on William’s arm, stopping him mid–stride as he crossed the room in search of Jackie. “You won’t believe what I just went through.”

Hearing the half–disgust, but also some humor in her voice, William led Sulie to a side table out of earshot of other party goers. “Did you find her?”

“What? No. I didn’t see Jackie anywhere. But I witnessed a steamy scene in the second bathroom,” she smiled. “A heated scene between a man and a very drunk woman.”

William shrugged his shoulders as he glanced around the room at the inebriated people around them. “I would never have guessed teachers and guidance counselors would party this hard.”

“This is an end–of–year, possibly end–of–career, event for these people. I suspect they project a serious image during work hours. Anyway,” Sulie said, giving William a wry smile. “I thought I walked in on you and Jackie having sex in one of the stalls.”

“Me?”

“I heard them at first, then the man walked out of the stall with his black cape waving proudly behind him.” She tugged at William’s cape. “He even wore a white mask like yours. I thought he was you until I smelled the human blood coursing in his veins, and the stench of food on his breath.”

“Seriously?
That
is what told you it wasn’t me? Not that I wouldn’t jump on a drunk woman in a filthy public restroom?”

“Well, there is that,” she smiled. “But for a split second I thought
he
was
you
. The man also winked at me — and not in a friendly way. He then hit on me, even while his last conquest dressed herself only a few feet away.”

William knew his friend all too well. “What did you do to him?”

“What?” she said coyly. “Little ol’ me?”

William’s eyebrow rose questioningly.

“Right now he’s cleaning the bathrooms on this floor. Once he’s done, he’ll clean the ones on the second floor, and then go home and get some rest. Starting tomorrow, he’s volunteering at a woman’s shelter one day a month for a year.”

Rolling his eyes, William said, “He got off easy.”

“I was in a relatively good mood. After all, he did find me attractive. And I suppose, in a way, his desire for me was a compliment.”

Overall, the man’s behavior did not shock William. Plenty of players existed in the world, but the man’s flagrant bravado of the situation seemed brazen. William could guess the explanation. “Maybe he was drunk.”

When Sulie gave him a hurt look, William ran the remark through his mind again. “I didn’t mean he’d have to be drunk to hit on you. But to engage in sexual activity with all your coworkers and the board members only a few feet away, well… the idea makes no sense.”

“I don’t know,” Sulie said. “If the timing is right and the passion is hot… a tryst in a secluded spot, maybe even behind locked doors, would be acceptable.”

William’s mouth fell open. “Is there a story behind that, that you’re not telling me?”

“What?” Sulie smacked his arm. “Not me. I’m just saying that you should allow yourself to get carried away with passion once in a while.”

He nodded as he studied her. “I don’t remember the last time you had a date.”

Her jaw hardened and a stern look came to her eyes. “Do you want my help or not?”

William knew when to drop a subject. “Jackie is here and she’s wearing a gold costume with a feathered mask. You can leave when you need to, but for now, let’s keep looking for her.”

*******

Jackie tossed her empty plate into the trash, along with the empty plastic wine glass. Eating five mini–cheesecakes was foolish since Steve wasn’t worthy of her time or attention, and alcohol wasn’t going to solve anything either. He had made a fool of her once more. And he did so in front of their co–workers with the red slutty devil. Jackie should have known better. Pitty party or not, she never should have agreed to come here tonight with him.

She turned the light off in the music room and left her secluded spot. The room didn’t prove much of a haven since it only gave her time to think of how stupid, and how desperate, she had been. Not anymore. She planned to walk out this door, march into the gym, and give Steve a piece of her mind. She would be the one to publicly dump and humiliate him, not the other way around.

She anger fumed over her poor judgment and where she was in her life as she heard the sound of her high heels clicking against the tiled floor of the long hallway leading back to the gym. She only had a job because Steve provided one for her with his trust fund money. She had no husband and no babies — she didn’t need them to define herself as a successful woman — but dammit, she wanted her happily ever after with a man who wanted to grow old with her. Was it too much to hope for?

When she entered the gym, Mr. Vampire conveniently walked past her, his black cape swaying with every step. He walked slowly around the room, as though looking for someone. Perhaps he sought the sexy red devil or another woman, but not her. Since she hadn’t talked to the man since their arrival, she doubted he even noticed her absence. He was probably looking for the she–devil bombshell who had hung all over him while he signed up for the romantic dinner auction. When Jackie checked the auctions earlier, she was pleased to see someone had outbid loverboy.

She matched Steve’s pace as her anger built. She wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of a scene. Oh no, he didn’t seem worthy of such effort. A curt, “you’re such an idiot and not worthy of my time” shake–down would suffice, with her taking the higher ground and looking repugnantly at him.

At least, that was the plan. And naturally, intentions are different from reality.

Using her index finger, she poked him in the back. “You son–of–a–bitch!” she fumed before he could turn around. Ladies from a nearby table stopped talking as Jackie’s words caught their attention. “I come here with you, listening the entire drive how you’ve changed and I’m the only woman for you. Then you go and treat me this way? Hell no!” She swallowed the lump in her throat as she noticed which ladies now sat at the table. The gossipy witches of the admin staff at her school got an ear–full. It didn’t matter. She took a deep breath and centered herself. “I only agreed to come here tonight so I could find out the truth about the grant money you gave to the school — the money you lied to me about. Since I have
you
to thank for my sorry ass job, I quit!”

She took a deep breath as she heard her own words. She hadn’t planned to quit, she also didn’t mean to spill the beans on where the grant money had come from. She needed this job, and her father needed her financial support. She stood taller and felt her resolve. She needed her dignity more than anything else, and her father would understand. Besides, taking control of her life felt good.

She watched as Steve turned around, his partially covered up face now visible to her. His smooth cocoa skin color, his deep brown soulful eyes, and militarily cut hair… all foreign to her.

“I believe you have me confused with someone else,” his deep voice filled the air.

Her eyes widened as she let out a gasp. This was not Steve.

Jackie felt a heaviness settle in her chest. She had made a terrible mistake, and in front of the gossipy witches no less. She licked her suddenly dry lips and inhaled a deep breath. “I thought you were someone else. I’m so sorry,” she squeaked out.

Even though he wore a mask, Jackie could see a trace of recognition in his deep brown eyes. She watched a smile spread across his full lips.

“I’m not. I’ve been looking everywhere for you,” he said.

His voice sounded deep and sinful. She took a good look at Mr. Dracula and became unsure what to say, especially in front of witnesses. She felt her heart pounding in her chest. She wasn’t sure if the surprise had set it off, or the fact that this incredibly handsome man stood before her. She had no idea who he was, but she needed to find out.