William's Tale (4 page)

That’s why it surprised him to hear Ben’s voice over the ear bud com unit. In a high pitch only vampires and dogs could hear, Ben said, “We may have a problem. Lady in teal dress. Her aura shows she is extremely upset.”

None of the other agents had heard Ben’s remarks. They were all human and their ears couldn’t register the high pitch. William looked around for a woman in teal, which he thought was a type of green, but he wasn’t sure. He followed Ben's stare so he could find her.

Why was Ben staring right at the gorgeous teacher he had just been eyeing himself? The problem couldn't have been with her, could it? William asked in the same high pitch, “The teacher the President shook hands with?”

When Ben acknowledged that was whom he had meant, he instructed William to remove the woman from the room.

A cold chill ran up William's spine and his stomach felt queasy. He hoped there was some type of mistake. Of course, he was happy to have a reason to talk with the woman, but could she mean to do the President harm? Without giving too much thought to the task, he snapped into presidential protection mode. He stepped over to the woman, touched her arm, and then whispered, “Ma’am, please come with me.”

Her deep brown eyes looked up into his, and he heard a slight gasp from her. Her eyebrows raised questioningly, but he firmly escorted her from the room without another word.

William lightly gripped the crux of Jackie’s arm. She seemed startled at first, and her heels gave her a moment’s pause as he led her out of the room, but overall, she easily followed.

Standing in the hallway, William glanced down the right corridor leading to the principal’s office. Damn. Too many humans were milling about. Looking to his left, he saw a hallway running past the security station. No one stood around that area, so he walked Jackie down that way.

The security guard proved to be the only obstacle, but not for long. William’s eyes locked onto hers as she stood. “You will let us pass.” Her eyes dimmed, and her skin instantly paled. She scooted out of their way and paid them no mind.

A door in the hallway with the word “Nurse” across the frosted, cracked window caught his attention. The unlocked door easily opened, so he led Jackie inside. Now alone, the two were out of earshot of any other human.

He heard Jackie’s heart beating loudly with his sensitive vampire ears as he closed the door behind them. Her eyes widened with fright as she stared at the door.

“You need to unhand me.” She twisted her arm and forced him to let go. He had barely held her arm, afraid he may too easily bruise her — or break her arm since his vampire strength sometimes did get the better of him when dealing with humans.

Her body stood tense; at her full height she was only standing past his shoulders. He listened as she took a deep breath and looked him over questioningly.

“Well?” she asked. “You dragged me here for a reason. So spill it,” she said, biting her lower lip and shifting from one foot to the other.

She seemed so angry. Her cheeks were flushed with blood, and she had such a defiant expression on her face. He liked opinionated, strong women, and she looked lovely to him. But she was obviously hiding something.

He took a deep breath as he eyed her. Even with her small, human form, she appeared to be a force to be reckoned with. She seemed to be the type of woman that prison inmates would say Ma’am to instead of making catcalls. God, if she could, he’d bet she would belt him across the face if he got out of line. He found the notion incredibly sexy.

“Now don’t be starin’ at me like that. I’m guessing this is about my petition,” she said, standing her ground. “I got more than the required number of names for it, and those schools need their funding back. I was only kidding when I wrote to my congressmen saying he needed to stop pretending to protect us citizens.” She paused. “I know I shouldn’t have said he’s just sittin’ around on his fat ass while inner–city kids do without, but the man
is
in office to hear the needs of his constituents. And if he ain’t up to the task…”

William held out his hand to stop her. For as well–bred as she appeared, she had an inner–city accent — a real ‘life on the street’ way about her that he assumed came out when she was angry. “A petition isn’t why I removed you from the library.”

Her eyes widened, and he noticed her pause for a moment. He then watched as she regrouped with fury. “You have no right to haul me out of that room like a common criminal — and in front of the principal and the teachers.”

“Ma’am, you need to settle down.” He wasn’t sure if it was her tone, or the fact that her finger was wagging at him like he was a naughty boy, but he felt like she was in control of the room. He figured she took control in any room she was in. She certainly qualified as a spitfire.

Giving him a stern glance, she rubbed her arm where he had held her. “Do you know how hard you grabbed me?”

For the first time, William noticed how muscular the woman was. He had felt it when he had grabbed her, but it hadn’t registered. When she had pulled away, she had
really
pulled away. He wasn’t holding her with all his might, but he surely left a bruise.

He gave her an unresponsive glance and got to the business at hand. “I’m sorry for any inconvenience, but I need to ask you about your intentions involving the President.”

“My intentions?”

He looked deep into her soulful brown eyes, and compelled her to answer his questions truthfully. He watched as her eyes went dim and lost their spark. Her skin paled, and she became under his power — like a doll he controlled.

William glanced away. He hated seeing humans in this state. Mere human puppets. It never bothered him when a criminal was under a compulsion, or even a member of the wait staff so they’d not notice him acting un–human–like. But to see a beautiful, passionate woman like this go spiritless, it was difficult to look her in the eyes afterward.

And she was beautiful. A phrase that came quickly to his mind was, “strikingly put together.” Her fingers flaunted a manicure, and he suspected her boot–covered toes sported a nice pedicure as well. Her thick shoulder–length modern hairdo seemed stylish, although he didn’t keep up with fashion trends. All of her jewelry was simple, but coordinated with her outfit. Even her tight, well fitting suit showed off her shapely figure and complemented her warm mocha skin tone.

In the state of compulsion she was in, she would just stand there waiting for him to ask his questions, so he didn’t keep her waiting.

“Are you angry or upset with the President or his administration?”

“Yes, I am.”

What? That wasn't what he had hoped to hear, especially how quickly she had responded. He carefully phrased his next question. “Do you intend to do any harm to the President?”

“Harm? Don’t be silly.”

He looked into her eyes. Normally, humans answered sparsely with an even tone while being compelled. Her responses seemed ripe with attitude. She remained compelled, and her sassy demeanor impressed him.

He undid the compulsion, while compelling her to forget she had ever been compelled. Then, following protocol, he planned to detain her for the remainder of the President’s stay.

“Why were you angry when you saw the President?”

It was as if he’d opened a can of worms. Jackie shared her concerns with the current administration, childhood education, and the way minorities were being treated in the workforce. Overall, she gave a verbal tongue lashing to the current administration.

“I just wish I had said it to the President himself,” Jackie huffed as she took a few steps around the room. “Instead, I only smiled, laughed at his joke, and let him walk right on by.”

And that’s when William pinpointed the source of her anger. “So, you’re upset with yourself?”

Her hand extended as she turned back around to face him. “Don’t get me started.”

William leaned against the nurse’s desk and studied Jackie as she continued voicing her concerns. She was so passionate about her job and about teaching. He could tell the kids she taught meant everything to her. He’d had no idea teachers taught curriculum towards certain state and national testing — that their job had been reduced to seeing how many kids could pass certain tests, regardless whether the teacher could reach them or not. The facts about subpopulations and testing within the schools fascinated him, as did the ways in which schools got ranked. A ranking that affected a school’s budget within each district. It was a whole new world to William.

He allowed her to rant a bit about the school district. He realized she had picked up on the same racial concerns he had when he first laid eyes on this school. The selection of a beautiful building in the middle of rich suburbia, a far cry from one of the poorest school districts, seemed a bit contradictory to the selection of students and teachers assembled to meet the President. Regardless of whether the President had chosen this school for safety, or for a another reason, he couldn’t allow her to continue to believe her allegations.

“The President isn’t here on any ruse to increase his popularity with minorities,” he said doing his job.

Her eyes narrowed and a scowl appeared on her face. “Of course
you’d
say that. You’re a mockery of equality in this country.”

His jaw nearly hit the floor.
He was a mockery?
He had lived through the heart of the equal rights campaigns of the 1960s and had fought —and died— for equality for all. Jackie had spent less than five minutes with him. She had no right to jump to such conclusions. “Explain.”

She looked at him and explained the racial distribution of not just the kids in the library, but also with the agents on duty near the President. William himself, with his dark colored skin, being one of the problems.

William glanced down at his dark skin. He had felt awkward about this entire school setup, and he thought, perhaps, he might be one of the problems. Regardless, he needed to have her believe the school, and the children, were picked at random. “Juan, the agent who brought the kids into the library, is a friend of mine,” he lied. He had met the man once or twice, but really had kept his distance since Juan was a human agent. “I assure you, his selection was random,” he added for good measure.

It was a stock answer, and William hated saying it. Oh sure, the diversity of the selected kids was fabulous, but it felt wrong. The selection went against the odds and it ate at him—not just the selection process, but lying to her. Still, he added, “Please believe me the selection of kids was not a calculated result of a President hoping to seem compassionate towards minorities.”

“Compassionate?” She rolled her eyes at the very idea.

“I also know the other agents on duty today.” Overall, there were three COLONY vamps present (him, Ben and another agent, Sterling, who had led the reporters in) and a dozen secret service men. “The agents are on duty because it’s their day to be in the President’s inner loop of protection. No one stacked minorities in the Secret Service for this trip today.” At least, he hoped that to be the case. He hadn’t thought about the makeup of the Secret Service staff until just this minute.

William focused his eyes on Jackie. Today was supposed to be his day off, and he did find it odd that he was asked to work the school visit. His brow furrowed as he considered the possibility that he may have been slacking in his support of equality for all. He had a cushy job on Capital Hill. He hadn’t touched base with his roots in decades, and the thought saddened him. He had been a child of the system, bouncing from one foster care parent to the next. That is, until a woman he always affectionately referred to as Mama Jackson had taken him in. She too was a spitfire who taught him to stand up for what he believed in.

He gazed into Jackie’s eyes. “What else makes this visit choreographed in your eyes?”

“Out of all the teachers,
I
was selected to shake hands with the man. I mean, of all people…”

“And why would you be…”

“Now do I look like I’m done talking?” She gave him a frustrated expression, which made him wonder if he should compel her to be a bit more submissive, but he enjoyed her passion as a strong–minded individual. He looked deep into her eyes and thought she had the same spirit as Mama Jackson, or even Rosa Parks, the woman who had refused to give up her seat on that bus so long ago.

William suspected Jackie would have marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. back in the day. Changes can be made by just one person at the right time with the right fight.

Jackie blew out an exasperated sigh. “I’m sorry.” Her tone sounded quieter, which surprised him. “It’s not your fault I got laid off. I shouldn’t take my problems out on you. Your boss, or at least the government he runs, made the budget cuts, not you.”

William’s eyebrow rose. She appeared honestly apologetic and regretful, even with the sarcastic remark about the President. “Don’t you work here?”

Her big brown eyes gazed into his. “No. I got a call to sub. The odd thing was the call didn’t come through the usual channels, but there have been so many district changes it’s hard to tell.”

“To tell what?”

She shook her head. “You probably can’t say anything. So never mind.”

He softened his stance and shifted from one foot to the other. He wasn’t sure what she was talking about. “I can’t say what?”