On the Far Side of Darkness (9 page)

The man on the left moves around the barrier of his companion and closes in, hands grasping for my throat. The foot nearest him comes up and places itself in his crotch, hard. He flies back several feet to collapse to the ground. His hands cover his ruptured testicles and he whimpers piteously.

To finish I twist the arm of the person I’m holding until it breaks. He curls into a ball and begins vomiting.

I shake my head with disappointment, stand and walk away. Nothing will be said to the police by them or me. Me, because I don’t want to draw attention to myself. Them, because they don’t want anyone to know how easily they were beaten by what appeared to be a skinny, middle aged man.

I must admit to being a bit peeved at Mandy, and I know it’s her behind this amateurish attempt at intimidation. Roughing someone up over a paper? Perhaps I should rethink my opinion of her intelligence. Why can’t she just attend classes and do the work? Why does she have to use force?

I have no answers.

Still, she must be waiting on tenterhooks for news, so I’ll let her know what happened.

A twenty minute walk brings me to her house. I climb the few steps to the porch to knock on the front door. Mandy answers the summons and her face gapes at me in astonishment.

I try to wear an expression of concern but my amusement at her reaction ruins it. “
Pardonez moi
,
Mademoiselle
Richardson. I had heard there were some punks nearby and was concerned for your safety. I’m pleased you are all right.
Bon nuit
.” I step off the porch and head into the night. Her door doesn’t close until I’m well down the street.

I hope that’s enough to tell her to pull in her horns,
goes through my head. My instincts tell me that will not be the case.

After a moment’s thought, I quicken my pace and look for a pay phone. Once found, not an easy thing these days, I drop a quarter in it and dial a number I haven’t had need to use in years.

“Prince Security,” comes a young woman’s voice, “how can I help you?”

“I need to talk to Mr. Prince, please.”

“He’s very busy. Can you leave a name and number?”

"Simon Cleary," I respond before looking to the number on the pay phone and rattling off the digits to her. After thanking me, she hangs up.

The return call comes in less than a minute. “Hello, Simon,” comes in a cultured English voice, “it’s been a while.”

“Hello, Major. I require your services.”

“Details?” Like all good professionals he wastes little time.

“I need 24/7 surveillance of someone.” I follow up with the place I currently live and all relevant information about Ms. Richardson. “I don’t need microphones in her house or anything like that but I need to know her movements.”

“How long is this job to run?” is his next question.

“A week. No longer.”

“I can have a team in place by ten tomorrow morning. The price is $25,000 US.”

“Done,” I agree. He won’t haggle.

“Can you set it up so I can talk straight to your operatives?” I ask. “I don’t want to lose time waiting for reports.”

“Yes, I can. That will be another $5,000.”

“Done.”

He gives me a number to call.

“Thank you, Major.” I say then. “Always a pleasure to work with you.”

“Likewise, Mr. Cleary. Good day.” There’s a click and I hang up the phone.

So, I’ll have knowledge of Mandy’s activities for the next week. Awareness of her movements, likely haunts and contacts will place me in a position to act against her, if need be.

A sigh passes through my nose. I had hoped never to be in a situation such as this ever again. Conflict is tiresome, often useless and sometimes fatal to the people involved. However, I don’t want the person destroyed to be me.

That means I prepare.

I take time to contact one of my Grand Cayman accounts and transfer the Major’s fee.

Once that is done, I ponder. The night’s still young. There must be something interesting to do. I wander off to look for that, whatever it is.

But not Diane. Not tonight.
I’m not ready to tell her goodbye.

* * * *

There’s a message waiting for me from the Dean when I awake the next night. “Professor Belleveau? We, uh, we need to talk.”

I walk over to her house. Like the last time I was here she leads me to her home office.

Unlike our previous meeting I’m surprised by the way she’s dressed. Her white blouse is translucent and the dark bra she wears shows through it. Her green skirt is very short, barely hiding her buttocks. The stockings she wears are white and her jade colored shoes sport very high heels. It seems that Mandy has a uniform for her victims.
Is she going to brand them next?
I wonder.

After we’ve seated ourselves, Helen and I stare at each other across her desk. She chews at her lower lip for several seconds. After a deep breath, she gets to the point.

“I’m discussing your position here with our legal department. There are allegations that you’ve been sexually harassing your students. We have two signed depositions. The school…”

“Let me guess who the depositions are from,” I interrupt.

She sits there, mouth open. My breaking into her speech has discomfited her.

“
Mademoiselles
Coburn and Richardson,
ne c’est pas
?”

Her eyes glance to one side and her mouth grimaces, confirming my hypothesis.

“Is there any other evidence?” I ask next.

Dr. Metaxas shakes her head in a negative.

“No other witnesses?”

Another shake.

“Forensic evidence, sperm samples etc.?”

Her gaze fixed on the surface of her desk Helen tells me, “No.”

“And the people accusing me are a woman failing my class and her lover. That will carry their complaint a long way.”

She sets her shoulders and looks up again. “That’s enough. We only need an allegation to bring to the board. It isn’t a court of law.”

I can feel my face go stiff with anger. It takes a moment to keep the monster in its cage. “If you do that, Dr. Metaxas,” I inform her with a cold voice, “I’ll have to talk about what I know of you, and I have more than allegations.” The last sentence is a lie, but she’s unskilled at this sort of power game, and I’m sure I could get evidence within twenty four hours.

The blood drains from her face. She knows exactly what I’m talking about. Helen tries to brazen it out though. “I duh, don’t know what you mean.”

“To use an American idiom, Dr. Metaxas, Mandy has been banging you. I know this. She’s got her hooks into you and it’s
her
behind this silly attempt at manipulation.”

Maureen grows even paler and her eyes fill with tears.

I feel not the slightest pity and exasperation breaks into my voice. “My God, woman! What are you thinking?!”

“You don’t understand,” the Dean whimpers. “I can’t deny her. She tells me I want her and I do. She tells me I like it when she fucks me and I do.” The tears start to flow freely now. “She tells me I like her in my bum and I do. God, I’m so ashamed! But I can’t help myself.”

I snort in contempt. “That has nothing to do with me, Dr. Metaxas. You’ve made your bed, now you sleep in it. You can bring the allegations to the board. As I pointed out, your case is weak. Even if you do succeed, I don’t care. Let people think what they want of me.

“You on the other hand have a great deal to lose. Your career, your position at the university, your future and your husband.”

I can see her collapse inside as I speak to her. She shrinks in her chair. The emotional agony she feels reduces her to a quivering heap.

My anger bring me to my feet and I tell her, “End it, Helen. Your entanglement
will
come out and sooner than later. You can’t keep a secret like that. If you don’t end this affair, it will destroy you.”

“I can’t!” comes out in a wavering, quiet wail.

“Good night then, Dean,” I tell her.

She makes no notice. Her shoulders heave and her tears pool on her desk.

I shake my head in fury and pity as I leave her home.

I head to Poet’s Walk. I need peace now. I hate that the world can bring such pain to people and I hate even more the fact that I had anything to do with it.

If anyone disturbs me, they won’t have time to regret it.

* * * *

I have to clamp down on myself when I rise from the ground. The day’s rest has not calmed me much. My mind still roils and what I am is dreadfully close to breaking free.

My evening’s ritual helps. The simple rhythm of it soothes me.

My toilette finished, I check my messages. Again there is only one, but it’s from someone I didn’t expect, Diane. She’s discovered I never answer during the day. The time stamp shows she called barely after the sun came up. Five minutes earlier and she would have caught me.

“Georges?” Her voice is thin with terror. She’s gasping as her chest is squeezed with fear. “Some, something happened. A dream, dream, I think. Can’t remember.” She pauses to pull in a shuddering breath. “I’m scared, Georges. Don’t know why. I think I lost something. Don’t know what. Please, please, answer the phone. I need you.” There’s a long pause and then a click sounds as she hangs up.

I’m gone from my haven, not even bothering to lock the door. In spite of my resolve to end our relationship, I have to go to her. My lover needs me.

The speed and strength of my kind means I can take a direct route, through yards, over fences and roofs. I’m careful not to be observed but not fussy about courtesy or property. The trip is barely ten minutes.

I knock on Diane’s door and she answers.

“You!” she hisses with utter venom. Her eyes narrow with fury and lips curl with loathing.

I can’t keep the astonishment from my face. If she had appeared wrapped in bandages and trailing dust I would have been less surprised. Without thinking I extend my hand and step towards her. My love recoils as if my touch would infect her with a virulent disease.

“What’s, what’s happened?” I ask. The pain that crushes my chest makes my voice quaver.

“I found out about you, you monster!” she growls back.

Terror now wraps itself around my heart. If she knows what I am, she will die. Either I kill her myself or others of my kind will destroy her and me. We can’t have humans know of us.

“You rapist!” she spits then.

I can’t help but release a sigh of relief. My secret is safe. Hurt grows to replace my fear. There’s no reason why she would think such a thing.

“That student of yours came by,” Diane goes on. “Mandy told me all about you. How you make them fuck you for a decent mark, how you degrade them, how you make them suffer. I can’t believe I was fooled by you!”

Her words tear at me. Without thought I reach out and grip her arm. “You can’t be…” I start.

Her reaction drops my jaw in astonishment. She pulls free with a jerk, falls to her knees and throws up. The sharp smell of stomach acid fills the air.

“Don’t touch me!” Diane shrieks. She pauses for a second heave. “Don’t ever touch me again, you bastard!” Another wave of her stomach contents hits the floor. “Get out! Or I’ll call the police!” Her stomach expels yet more of her recent meals.

Cold ice seems to form around my heart. It deadens the misery I feel. “
D’accord
,” I tell her in a tone as neutral as I can manage. I step back into the hall and close the door on the end of an important piece of my existence.

An apartment opens down the hall and a small dog attached to a leash emerges. It gives a “Yipe!” at the sight of me and defecates. I’ve turned and headed for the stairs before the person at the other end of the leash can observe me.

Before I emerge onto the street, I pull my emotions into a tight ball and slide my human face into place. Death and horror walk with me and there is only one person I wish them to be unleashed upon.

I find a pay phone and dial the number Major Price had given me. “Yes?” a firm male voice answers.

“I need a report,” I tell him.

He draws in a quick breath at the sound of my voice. It seems I’m still not concealing myself well.

The man’s a professional though and quickly gathers himself. “The team got here early. We had the subject under surveillance by 9:30 AM.”

Yesterday Mandy went to classes, had dinner at a restaurant and returned home. Nothing unusual. The next part of his report catches my attention.

“Last night, the subject left her house at 10:57 and drove out of town. She was followed to an old farmhouse. More correctly, the road to an old farmhouse. My operative wouldn’t travel any farther.

“I gave him hell for that. But he told me he wouldn’t go near the place for all the money in the world. He said the place frightened him. That was a surprise. I’ve worked with him for three years and I didn’t think anything scared him.”