Scarlet Masquerade (18 page)

A.J. stood and grabbed Selene’s arm. “It isn’t that I don’t want to tell you. Well, it is that I don’t want to tell you, but I don’t know all the details. What I know, I’m guessing at,” A.J. said measuring up Selene as they stared across at each other. “If you’re done trying to play alpha dog to my alpha dog, I’ll try and fill you in on what I know.” A.J. guided Selene back to her seat and looked at her again.

“I’m listening.”

A.J. let out a deep breath and looked around for a diversion. This wasn’t going to be easy, but she needed to let Selene know what she had gotten her into. Pinning Selene with a stare, A.J. studied her face.

“I’m waiting.”

“Clarissa and I were lovers in Paris centuries ago.” A.J. rubbed her hands, as if doing so would warm them up.

“And?”

“She was human the last time I saw her.”

“How is that possible? If you didn’t turn her, then who did? Where is her master?” Selene’s questioning glare made A.J. squirm uncomfortably. She knew those would be the first questions Selene asked. Heck, they were the first questions she had asked Kevin when he told her who the owner of the license plates was.

“Short version. She was sick and dying the last time I saw her. Her parents thought I had made her sick, cholera, the plague, take your pick. Whatever was going around back then was lethal to humans and I wasn’t sick. So obviously I made her sick in their minds. A Dr. De Marcus was hanging around her at the time, and he’s the only one I can think of who would have had opportunity and motive. He hated that she loved me and not him. It bruised his ego, and I think at the last minute he turned her.”

“So why is she single then? She belongs to him and he wouldn’t just let her go out of the kindness of his heart. Not that I know him, but that first vampire’s blood tasted old, so his master must be really old and most masters still subscribe to the old way. Domination, subjugation and control are still big with those old masters.”

“I can’t answer that. I have been busy trying to protect her and haven’t had a lot of time to figure it out yet. Kevin looked into it and said De Marcus was dead, killed in an accident in England. But the only records are in the Coven and I don’t have time to travel to Europe to go through them. I had to trust Kevin. He did tell me where and what Clarissa was doing, so he had some integrity,” A.J. said, hoping she sounded convincing. But even as she said the words, she wasn’t sure she could even convince herself. Kevin had thrown a grenade right in the middle of her well laid out plan. Now, she had to figure out what was left of it and if it could be salvaged.

“I need you at the masquerade ball with me on Saturday night. I have two VIP tickets so you won’t stick out like a sore thumb. Besides, if you’re outside and I’m inside, we should be able to keep her safe without her knowing it.” A.J. waited for a reaction from Selene, but only got a frown. “What?”

“I don’t like playing dress-up. It makes it too hard to tell who the players are.”

“And?”

“I’m not wearing a dress.”

A.J. started to laugh at Selene’s implications. She had never even thought of asking the very butch assassin to dress in women’s clothes. The thought of Selene in women’s attire made her think of a drag queen, which only caused her to laugh harder. The laughter echoed through the coffee shop causing people to turn and look in their direction.

“Knock it off, A.J. I’m not kidding. I am not dressing up in a dress so come up with another idea. I can sit in the car and watch the dance from there, but I am not wearing a dress.”

“Selene, you would look like a woman playing a guy dressed in drag. No offense, but the thought never crossed my mind. Besides, you can call Gail, my secretary, and tell her I want her to set you up with a costume. Okay?”

“Fine,” huffed Selene. She wasn’t accustomed to being laughed at, and when people did, it usually cost them their life.

Wiping a tear from her eye, A.J. felt sorry for the beautiful woman. It must be hard to be a trained killer one minute and then think you might have to wear a dress the next. Oh well, the job would be over soon, hopefully, and Selene could go back to her indulgences at her club. Until the next time she was needed. A.J. discussed her plan with Selene, going over every detail of the night. There could be no missteps this time. They both needed to be sharp, or it could cost Clarissa her life.

“Wow, you look gorgeous, Honey.” Carol whistled her approval as Clarissa turned in her new ball gown. She had worn the same one for the past three years and had decided that this year she would splurge and have a new one made.

“You like it?”

“Well, let’s just say if this was a different time and I was a different gal, I would do you.” Carol had a way about her that if someone didn’t know her, they would make different assumptions about her occupation.

“Oh, swarthy language. Careful, you just might turn my head.” Clarissa slapped Carol’s hand away as she tried fingering the gown. “Besides, I can’t wait to see what you dress Mr. Sex Ed. in. I’m sure he’ll be the one on the short leash.”

“Well,” Carol hesitated, looking anywhere but at Clarissa, “he isn’t going.”

“What? What do you mean he isn’t going? You didn’t invite him or you broke up with him already, as in isn’t going?” Clarissa watched as the question lingered in the air while Carol fidgeted with her purse. “Carol, what’s going on?”

“Oh, we broke up. I don’t even know why we broke up, but we just did.” Carol wiped an errant tear before it trailed down her cheek.

“Oh, Carol. I’m sorry. What happened?” Clarissa pulled her long gown behind her as she wrapped her arm around her friend’s shoulder. “I’m sure it’s just a misunderstanding. Don’t you think?”

“Look, Honey. I know the difference between a misunderstanding and being dumped and he dumped me.” Snapping her finger she finished, “just like that. One minute we’re talking in bed, the next thing I know he’s telling me he’s not good enough for me. You know that ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ bullshit.”

Clarissa wished she could feel bad for Carol, but she had thought the guy had moved too fast on Carol anyway. “Well, look on the bright side. There’ll be lots of available men at the ball so you can dance your way through them to find Mister Right.” Clarissa hoped Carol wouldn’t take it the wrong way.

“Well, I’ll just settle for Mr. Right Now. I’m beginning to think Mr. Right just doesn’t exist. Besides, he was cold all the time.” Clarissa frowned at Carol’s comment.

“Huh?”

“Yeah, he was always cold. Said the doctor told him it was poor circulation and it would get worse as he got older. I always had my thermostat set at seventy five degrees when he was over. At least now my heating bill will be lower.” Carol shrugged off the comment and went back to fingering Clarissa’s dress. “Maybe I need to get a new dress, too.”

Clarissa thought about what Carol had said. The bite marks earlier in the week, the cold body and now that she thought about it, Clarissa had never seen Carol’s boyfriend.
Strange, Carol had always paraded her new boyfriends through the university,
thought Clarissa. Something wasn’t adding up. She wanted to ask Carol more questions, but thought better of it when she saw Carol wipe her eyes again. Clearly, Carol was taking it harder than she let on. A tug on Clarissa’s arm brought her back to the present.

“Hey, did you hear what I said?”

“Oh, sorry. No, what did you say?”

“I said maybe you can introduce me to Ms. Lockwood at the ball.” Carol smirked, wiggling her eyebrows.

Maybe Carol wasn’t having as hard a time as Clarissa thought. Looking at Carol suspiciously, Clarissa shook her head, “I don’t think so. Besides, your gate doesn’t swing that way. Remember?”

“Well, maybe my sexuality is fluid and my fluid needs to be changed,” Carol said, as she looked through the rack of dresses. “Besides, remember when I said it is just as easy to love a rich man as a poor man? Well, maybe it’s just as easy to love a rich woman as a poor man. Hmm?”

Clarissa slid the dress off her shoulders and handed it to the seamstress with a nod. “Thank you. I’ll pick it up Friday.” Grabbing Carol’s elbow, she pulled her out of the shop. “Come on, Ms. Fluid, we are not having this conversation. Besides, you need time to settle, not settle for something that isn’t you.”

“Oh,” a dramatic sigh escaped Carol as she followed Clarissa towards her car. “I know. I’m being silly. It wasn’t that I really liked him. Besides, I just met him a few weeks ago. He was just passing time. If truth be told, he was starting to get weird.”

“Weird? Weird, how?” Clarissa was now interested in finding out more about Carol’s phantom boyfriend.

“You know how men can be. Weird.” Carol turned and faced Clarissa as Clarissa unlocked the car. “One time he sucked on my neck so hard I thought he would break the skin. When I screamed, he jumped off the bed and apologized like crazy telling me it would never happen again. Then, other times, he would just sit and watch me do things, while he stroked his belt. You know, weird stuff.”

Clarissa frowned at Carol, “What do you mean ‘stuff’? What kinda stuff?”

“Oh come on. Stuff. You know…” Carol wiggled her eyebrows at Clarissa, “stuff.”

“Oh.” Carol’s meaning suddenly dawned on Clarissa, “you mean masturbation stuff?”

“Oh, Christ, we’re in public, Clarissa. Someone might hear you.” Carol looked around causing Clarissa to mimic her actions.

“Oh, right.” Clarissa blushed realizing what she had just said. Clarissa slammed the car door and turned towards Carol. “Okay, so what other weird stuff did he do?”

“I don’t know,” Carol said, shrugging her shoulders. “Now that I think about it, maybe I’m just being silly. Besides, it’s over now so who cares. Right?”

Clarissa had a bad feeling about Carol’s boyfriend, but she wasn’t sure how she would get more information out of her without it being obvious. At least he was out of the picture now. She needed to come up with a plan to find out more information about him. Something just wasn’t right. She had learned a long time ago to trust her gut, and right now her gut was telling her something was very wrong. Especially after what had happened two nights ago in her own backyard. She couldn’t be too careful now.

Let’s get some lunch. My treat.” Clarissa knew a glass of wine with lunch and she would be able to pry just about anything out of her friend.

“Okay, if you’re buying. I’m hungry.”

Clarissa never noticed the car that pulled out behind them as they left the parking lot.

###

An hour later, Clarissa and Carol were laughing and toasting the end of Carol’s weird relationship.

“So, you never told me how you met this guy,” Clarissa said casually.

“Oh, I was out walking my dog after work. He was at the dog park reading a newspaper and watching everyone with their dogs. I sat down and the next thing I knew he was asking me out.” Carol shrugged.

“Wow. Sounds smooth.”

“Yeah, I guess. I never thought about it really. He teaches, I teach. We had a lot in common.” Clarissa watched as Carol swirled her wine glass and watched the amber liquid swirl up the sides. “It was easy. We met after work, had wild sex and then laid around and talked.”

“How come you never brought him around? You always bring your boyfriends around to show them off.” Clarissa hoped it didn’t sound condescending, but she had a feeling.

“I wanted to, but he was always busy with school stuff and he usually came over at night, after work. I tried to get him to come with me when you invited me to dinner the other night, but he ended up getting sick or something and called at the last minute to cancel. Otherwise, you would have met him.”

“Huh.” Clarissa lifted her glass and toasted, “here’s to shitty boyfriends and great friends. May there always be plenty of the latter and fewer of the first.”

“I’ll toast to that. Here, here,” said Carol, finishing her wine and setting her glass down with a thud. “Thanks.”

“For what?”

“For being there for me. I know I can be a pain sometimes, but I’m glad we’re friends.”

Clarissa looked at Carol and wished she could tell her that their friendship might come to an end soon, but she just didn’t have the nerve. Besides, she was fond of Carol so maybe, maybe she would stay friends with her after she left. Clarissa wished she could tell Carol her suspicions about Carol’s ex-boyfriend, but maybe it was better this way. He had at least had the decency to leave before anything bad had happened to Carol. Or worse yet, what if he had met Clarissa. They would both know the other’s secret, and then what? No, Carol was lucky it had ended the way it had as far as Clarissa was concerned. Besides, Carol always found something, or someone else, to take her mind off her troubles and the ball would do just that.

“So, you never said if you heard from Ms. Lockwood about attending the ball.”

“Oh, yeah. Her secretary called to confirm that she would be attending, alone.”

Clarissa’s student worker had gotten the call earlier in the day and informed Clarissa. Clarissa was surprised by the new development. Not that Ms. Lockwood would attend, but she would be attending alone. Clarissa had thought that Ms. Lockwood would be bringing a date so the news of her lone attendance excited Clarissa for some reason. Now, Clarissa would be able to spend a few minutes alone with her benefactor, giving her the time she needed to thank her properly. She had gone shopping the night before, looking for something special for the woman and had found what she hoped would be the perfect gift. It sat wrapped in her office. Clarissa would present it to her at the ball, but she wasn’t sure if she wanted to do it in front of an audience or in private. The anticipation was almost too much for her as she thought about the gift. She had gone to a local gallery looking for a black and white photograph to give Ms. Lockwood. As she strolled through one gallery in particular, she had accidently seen the photo hanging on the wall of the gallery office. There was something about the photo that propelled her back to France when she was young. The countryside was just as she remembered it, gently rolling hills and a farm house tucked away just inside a grove of trees. The contrast of the trees and the grass was amazing, but even more amazing was that the photo was taken at dusk. The moon, just barely seen above the forest, brought out the path leading to the forest, tree trunks catching the moonlight as it cast shadows around the farm house. Clarissa had bargained hard with the owner, finally paying handsomely for the photograph. The owner had no idea who the photographer was or when the photograph was taken, but assured her that it was worth what she was paying for it. A gentle tugging and a question brought Clarissa out of her daydream.