Woman King (35 page)

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?”