Just Wanna Testify (18 page)

The next morning, when Serena arrived at the West End News, Blue was already at his table reading the Sunday
New York Times
. Henry brought her through the private entrance and Blue rose to greet her, but this time he didn’t offer coffee. They sat down across from each other with the cautious wariness of two seasoned prize fighters entering the ring.

“Do you know why I asked you to come here this morning?” Blue said.

“I assumed you wanted me to pay for our table in advance,” Serena said, crossing her long legs with a swish of black silk stockings.

Blue’s eyes never left her face.

“I am very disappointed that you didn’t see fit to tell me about your arrangement with the Morehouse students.”

Her expression didn’t change, but her eyes took on the wariness of a predator, unexpectedly encountering one of its own.

“As I understand it, the college is not technically under your … jurisdiction.”

Blue had no interest in discussing boundaries and borders with someone who was unable to appreciate the value of either one. “Do you really think I’m going to allow you to come here and take five free black men away as stud animals?”

“No one twisted their arms, Mr. Hamilton,” she said calmly. “Yes, they signed over four years of their young lives, but that’s not so different from enlisting in the navy or signing a contract for the run of a Broadway show, is it?”

“You didn’t tell them you were going to bite their heads off when you were done.”

She looked at him and shook her head in slow motion, as though reprimanding him. “They declined the information.”

“What do you mean?”

“After we described the sex and the scholarships and the free porn and the nonstop sports, we told them there was one last piece of information that was so secret, it could be revealed to them only if they wanted to see it badly enough that they would agree to give up something.”

“What?”

“The free porn.”

Blue looked at Serena and he knew. Given a choice between potentially lifesaving information and four years of unlimited porn? They probably didn’t hesitate more than ten seconds. If that.

“Exactly,” Serena said, reading his silence correctly.

Blue felt the weight of these young men’s choices and he didn’t like it one bit. Their stupidity had put him in a position of bargaining for their survival with a vampire who was holding all the cards.

“They are certainly young fools, but last time I checked, that was not a capital crime,” he said, thinking how cold her face remained, no matter the topic of conversation.

Serena sighed as if the whole subject was exhausting. “There are two schools of thought about this, Mr. Hamilton. One group wants to hold on to our most ancient and sacred rituals.”

“Like the biting off of a man’s head?”

“That is our tradition, Mr. Hamilton. We were born to it, but like any group that wants to survive, we have to adapt. Some of us recognize that fact and, as an alternative, we advocate the development of a race of men worthy of living among us as peers, as lovers, as fathers, as friends. Men we can trust with our hearts and our minds and our lives and our bodies and our children.”

She looked at Blue without blinking. “But we have no experience with men like that, Mr. Hamilton, so it’s hard to argue for a more significant male presence on our small island.”

“People are not allowed to sell themselves for breeding and slaughter,” Blue said.

“I told you this was a moment of transition for our little tribe,” Serena said. “But until that transition is complete, we need those boys, as weak and sorry as they are, to ensure our survival. Unless of course …”

She held the silence long enough for Blue to prompt her. “Unless what?”

“Unless you’re prepared to go in their place,” she said, watching his face for a reaction.

“I’m not in the business of making babies that I’m not going to stay around to raise.”

“You could raise them if you wanted to,” Serena said softly. “We’re certainly not going to kick
you
off the island.”

Blue kept his face impassive, but his eyes were as intense as hers.

“You might find out we’re not half as bad as they say.”

“You’re a thousand times worse.”

Serena raised her eyebrows. “I’m surprised to hear you say that, Mr. Hamilton,” she said. “After all, you’re not that different from us when you think about it.”

“All of my lives come to an end.”

“What if this one didn’t have to?”

“You don’t have that kind of power.”

“But if I did?”

“You don’t.”

Serena sighed again. “They signed a contract, Mr. Hamilton.” She dug around in her bag and took out a white business envelope, which she extended to him. “You can take this copy for your perusal.”

Blue accepted the envelope and slipped it, unopened, into his inside coat pocket.

Serena smoothed her hair. “Look, Mr. Hamilton, there is no reason for this to be a problem to either one of us.”

“I don’t expect it to be,” Blue said.

“Did they tell you that there is an escape clause?”

“An escape clause?”

She nodded. “It is possible, even at this late date, for them to void the contract. They’ve got until next Saturday night to bring witnesses forward to testify on their behalf.”

“Witnesses?”

“I’m surprised they didn’t mention it,” Serena said. “All they have to do is get one woman to speak up for them in front of a group of ten or more people.”

“Speak up for them how?”

“Give testimony as to their worth and value,” she said. “Be a witness for how much they are loved and needed by all who move within their sphere.”

“Any woman?”

“A woman of their choosing. The names are already on the contract.”

“That’s it?”

Serena nodded. “You’d be amazed, Mr. Hamilton, at how few men have any women they can call upon to speak up for them, no matter how grave the consequences of remaining silent.” She reached into her bag again and took out a huge pair of sunglasses.

“There are probably any number of women prepared to speak up for you, including your wife, who by all accounts loves you deeply and would probably find it inconceivable to trade you away for any amount of treasure. But you are the exception, Mr. Hamilton, not the rule.”

“Are you saying you don’t think any of these women will speak up?”

Serena shrugged with her trademark ripple. “I don’t know. Feel free to ask them. They all live in Atlanta.”

“Did you tell them these young men would not be back?”

He could see her choosing her words carefully.

“When we talk to them, we liken our little experiment to working on a space station,” she said. “We tell them there are great risks, which is why we offer them such generous compensation for their cooperation.”

“How generous?” Blue said, suddenly realizing that securing these testimonies might not be as easy as he had thought it would be.

“A quarter of a million dollars,” Serena said, slipping on her enormous sunglasses and standing up to go.
“To each and every woman on their list.”

When Aretha rang the bell early that Sunday morning, Regina was already searching the Internet for other ways to kill a vampire that didn’t involve her husband wearing a big black cape and pounding sharpened tree trunks into the skinny chests of the Too Fine Five. She knew that Blue had been involved in many kinds of violence in his line of work, but never against women or anything that looked like women. She had hardly slept a wink during the night because her dreams were full of Blue and Peachy and the others, roaming West End with old-fashioned lanterns, looking for the vamps. And then when they found them, how exactly did that stake thing work? Did they give them chloroform or something first so they wouldn’t struggle? Did chloroform even work on vampires? Did they feel pain? She seemed to remember a few bloodcurdling screams at the end of the old
Dracula
movie as Dr. Van Helsing, the vampire-killing scientist, finally caught up with the Count
and his wives in that coffin-filled basement, but she couldn’t be sure.

Not that the details really mattered. Screaming or not, she didn’t want Blue to have to do it.
Period
. There was a limit to what people could ask of her husband, or there should be, she thought, scrolling past a picture of a vampire in a long white gown, sinking her bloody fangs into the neck of some poor, unsuspecting man who seemed oblivious to her wraithlike presence hovering above his chest. Sometimes she thought about Nina Simone singing in that live recording “You give up everything you got, trying to give everybody what they want.”

That was Blue all right. He never said no, even when the task was crazy, like this one.
But not me
, Regina thought. She didn’t intend to let him use up his
everything
, fighting off a bunch of vampires with a sharpened stick. There had to be another way, and she intended to find it before Saturday night, but she had been on the computer since Blue left at seven, and so far nothing new. It seems people had tried other things over the years, including guns, knives, swords, hot oil, heavy stones, and fire, but nothing really worked, so they always came back to the old tried and true.

She was so deep into reports of a recent vampire scare in Malawi, which actually brought down a government thought to be infested, that she jumped when the bell rang, as if somebody had yelled “Boo” in her ear. Aretha was standing on the porch, looking miserable when Regina opened the door.

“I’m sorry to bother you.…,” she began, but Regina didn’t even let her finish. She reached out and drew her inside.

“I was going to call you,” she said, hugging her friend hello, “but I knew you were working.”

“Not anymore,” Aretha said, slipping off her jacket and unwrapping a long orange scarf from around her neck.

“What are you talking about? The portfolio is off, but they still have to pay you for the …” Regina stopped in midsentence, realizing what she was saying.

“Exactly,” Aretha said. “I can’t take money from
Essence
for those pictures. It was bad enough when I just thought those girls were weird, but now that I know
how
weird? No way!”

“Come on,” Regina said. “I’ll make us some tea.”

Aretha followed her into the kitchen and watched her put on the teakettle.

“I went home last night after we all talked and looked at some of the pictures, and I won’t lie. It’s very interesting work,” she said, pacing in front of the sink. “All that stuff we did in the office after I decided I wasn’t doing the portfolio is very strong. I was really able to use that anger.”

Regina got down two mugs and a Celestial Seasonings sampler.

“But I’m not using my art in the service of those vamps. It’s not right.” She leaned over and selected a chamomile for herself and a Morning Thunder for Regina, who was addicted to it. “Even if the pay is fabulous!”

The kettle gave a little prewhistle moan and Regina turned it off quickly and filled their cups with the steaming hot water.

Aretha dunked the teabag ferociously up and down. “I hate this.”

“Me, too,” Regina said.

“So does this mean that Blue and Peachy are going to have to—”

“We don’t know anything specific yet,” Regina interrupted her quickly. “Blue will see Serena this morning to see if he can talk her out of it.”

“And if he can’t?”

Since she had no good answer, Regina was relieved that the doorbell gave her an excuse to leave the question hanging in the air.

“Relax,” she said, getting up and patting Aretha’s shoulder lightly. “That’s my Sweetie coming home. She spent the night with Abbie.”

At the front door, Abbie stood alone, holding Sweetie’s Dora the Explorer backpack. She greeted Regina with a hug. “Your daughter is doing errands with Peachy. They’ll be along later.”

“Aretha’s in the kitchen,” Regina said. “Come on in and have a
cup of tea with us. I’ve been on the Internet all morning, but so far, nothing we can use.”

“I’ve been looking, too,” Abbie said. “The only thing that seems to be foolproof is—”

“That’s not an option,” Regina said, cutting her off. “We have to keep looking.”

Abbie nodded and handed Regina the backpack. “Gina?”

“Yes?”

“Are we okay?”

Regina looked at Abbie. “We’re fine, but promise me one thing?”

“Anything.”

“No more secrets? About anything?”

“It’s a deal!” Abbie said, hugging Regina again, relieved. “Now, where’s my favorite photographer?”

Aretha stopped pacing long enough to hug Abbie, who looked at her and frowned. Regina recognized that look. It was the one Abbie always gave her when she was feeling off-center and responsible for things that were clearly beyond her control.

“How you doin’, darlin’?”

“I’ve been better,” Aretha said.

“Don’t blame yourself for this,” Abbie said, sitting down and pulling Aretha gently into a chair. “They were jut using you as an excuse to hang around. It doesn’t have anything to do with you.”