Chapter 11 Paperwork
Renata
“How much is the final charge?” I shout furiously at the speaker of my desk phone.
“Um…fifty-five thousand, Ms. Espina…” crackles the voice of our accountant on the other end.
“Who signed off on it?” I ask sharply, my fingers clicking quickly across my keyboard, pulling up the unfinalized expense report from this week.
“It was Ms. Price,” says the accountant nervously.
“Did you tell Ms. Price that it is not within her jurisdiction to approve…”
“I’m sorry, Renata. Usually Lily keeps an eye on the statements. You know she’s the only one who can talk any sense into Ms. Price. But since she’s been away…”
I heave an angry groan. “It’s fine, I’ll deal with my sister myself.”
I press the button to end the call, and sit back down in my chair, rubbing my temples in frustration.
I’m glad that I gave Lily the time off - I feel terribly guilty about endangering her on the holding floor - but her absence has been sorely felt these past few days.
I didn’t even realize all of the things she was taking care of.
In the past evening alone, I’ve had to deal with a screeching Mrs. Harrigan, who insisted that her mattress “felt different” and that we had sneakily replaced it for some reason, a squatting family of mermaids who refused to check out of their room, and now, a ridiculously large charge on the business AMEX made by my dear sister.
With an irritated sigh, I press the button on my desk phone again to call Lexi.
If she isn’t her office, so help me god…
“Hi, Ren!” her chipper voice says through the speaker.
“Get in here now!” I shout.
“Jesus, calm down! What, are you being attacked by bear shifters, or something?”
“Just get in here!”
With superhuman speed, the door to my office opens and Lexi appears.
Today, her hair is in a long braid, with a quilted pink headband.
She wears a tube dress in a similar shade.
To top it off, in one hand she holds a massive Stanley tumbler, in exactly the same shade of pink as her outfit.
She puts a hand on one hip, and takes a sip from the opaque straw.
“What are you drinking?” I ask.
“Bloodwine,” she replies cheerfully. “Gotta hydrate!”
“That’s disgusting.”
She gives me an expectant look. “What did you call me in here for?”
“Lexi, did you use the company AMEX to spend fifty-five thousand dollars on a statue of a flamingo?”
“Ooh!” she says with a big smile. “Did it come already? Isn’t it cute?”
“No, it doesn’t matter if it was cute or not, it cost the entire annual salary of one of our floor managers, Lexi.”
She frowns. “Wow, we should really be paying our floor managers more.”
“That is not the point I am trying to make!” I pinch the bridge of my nose, wishing I could just stake her and get on with my night. “You can’t spend such a ridiculous amount of money, Lexi. We have to be responsible…”
“It’s an investment,” Lexi replies. “This statue is a conversation piece. It was owned by like, a super-famous designer or something, and it’s going to look great in the photos that our influencer partners will take at my event…”
“Oh, no,” I say, standing up from my desk chair and pointing a serious finger at my sister. “You are not hosting an event here, Lexi, no way! I’ve got way too much on my plate this summer…”
“Well, you don’t have to add this to your plate,” she says. “I’m going to organize everything, I promise! Event planning isn’t that hard. Everything always just works itself out in the end…”
I grit my teeth. “It works out in the end because I swoop in and fix everything for you, Lexi…”
She tosses her braid over her shoulder haughtily. “Well, nobody asked you to do that, Ren! Just let me deal with things. It’s going to be fun! And it’s really going to help the hotel with our image…”
“Our image is fine,” I tell her. “I never asked you to…”
My speakerphone beeps, and the voice of the receptionist chimes in. She sounds a little nervous.
“Um, Ms. Espina? There are some guests here to see…”
Before she can continue, my office door flies open, and Celine enters.
“Oh good, Lexi, you’re here too,” she says. She gives me an uncharacteristically sheepish look. “Listen, Renata, before you hear anything, I just want you to know, this wasn’t my idea at all…”
I glare at my older sister. “What wasn’t your…?”
“Renata!” shrieks the excited voice of Amrita Vyas as she barges into my office. She’s wearing her purple High Priestess robe loosely over a crop top and a pair of shining leather pants. Her barn owl familiar glides into the office and perches on my desk. There’s a dangerous gleam in Amrita’s eyes.
“Hello, Rita,” I reply, warily. “Is this about the conference?”
“Well…sort of,” she says with a careless shrug. She turns to the door. “Come in, everyone!”
To my dismay, an eclectic group of young magical people begin filling up my office. Hallie and Lilith are there, as well as a few other vampires, a group of shoeless witches, and what smells like an entire pack of wolf shifters. Amara brings up the rear, a slightly anxious expression on her face.
“What is going on?” I ask sharply.
“Well, Celine said that you’ve been very busy and stressed out here at the hotel,” Amrita says to me with a large grin.
“And I wanted to show you our appreciation for agreeing to host the conference here. So I thought, perfect idea, why don’t we do a summer internship program at the hotel!
For the Elmwood Academy students on their summer break! ”
I give Celine a look that would turn a mortal person into dust.
“I think it’s a great idea!” Lexi declares, without a hint of irony. She holds up her blood-filled Stanley tumbler in a toast. “Students on their summer break! How fun.”
“That’s what I said!” Amrita replies with an eager nod. “They can start right away. And they can help out with the conference in August.”
“How thoughtful of you, Rita,” I say through clenched teeth.
“Don’t mention it.” The vampire-witch shrugs. “Always happy to help!”
She gives me a cheery wink, and makes to leave my office.
“Wait,” I call to her, looking around at the bedraggled bunch of students. “Don’t they need to be graded, or supervised?”
“Oh, Damien will give them a mark, or something,” she says with a shrug. “Nobody’s really keeping track of grades, to be honest with you. Too much paperwork.”
Without another word, she disappears, leaving me with a dozen completely untrained, magical young adults who have probably never had a real job or even visited the city in their entire lives.
“Um, did she say no one is keeping track of our grades?” Hallie asks with a frown.
I ignore her, and turn to Lexi, who is eying up one of the shifters. “Lexi, take the students to the boardroom. Find a standard internship agreement and make sure they’ve all signed it and filled in their medical records.”
Lexi groans. “What, why me? You know I’m bad at forms!”
“Because I asked you to!” I snap, waving my hand at her.
“Do I have to fill out an internship agreement?” Hallie asks.
“No, but could you help Lexi with the other students, please?” Celine says.
With a guilty expression on her face, she begins ushering them out of my office.
Lexi pouts but ultimately gives in, taking a drink from her bright pink tumbler as she follows the students to the boardroom.
Celine gives me a quick wave. “Well, I should probably also…”
“You stay here!” I shout at her.
Amara tries to leave as well, but I turn on her before she can. “You too!”
Both of them share a look of resignation. Amara waves a hand to magically shut the door, and Celine comes over to my desk.
“Listen, Renata,” she says, her voice taking on that charming, smooth inflection she always uses when trying to make a deal with the other mafia leaders, or charm the mayor, or whatever it is she does all day. “I know you’ve got a lot to do, but…”
“There’s no but!” I interject. “I’ve got a lot to do, and I would appreciate it if you could have my back, instead of letting Amrita and the witches waltz around the hotel like it’s their hovel, or whatever witches live in!”
“Cottages, usually,” Amara mutters.
“Don’t Lavinia and Amrita have enough to do without making my life so difficult?
” I continue, addressing my sister directly.
“I know you’ve been busy dealing with them since Tudor’s been gone, but I need your help, Celine.
I can’t run all of the operations of the hotel and keep the witches out of our hair. ”
“I’m trying to keep the witches away, Ren, but it’s a lot more difficult than you would think,” Celine says. “Damien was right, the vampires in the the surrounding regions are starting to stake out our territory. We’ve been trying to fend them off…”
“Well, you’re not doing a very good job,” I snap. “Because of you, those intruders managed to get onto the holding floor. You and Damien should have been up there. Do you know what would have happened if I hadn’t been there to protect Lily?”
I cross my arms over my chest. I told Celine about the incident, but I left out the part where I gave Lily some of my blood to heal her.
Sharing blood is an intimate activity, and I don’t want to admit that I engaged in such a thing with my assistant.
But I had no choice. I couldn’t watch Lily die right in front of me.
She was so brave, standing up to the intruders, even though she doesn’t have any magical abilities. When I think of her lying on the ground, in a pool of blood, fury rises up inside me. But before I can round on my sister once more, she puts her hand out.
“Renata, I would have dealt with the threat if you had told me what was happening,” she says. “If you remember correctly, you got the text and stormed out of the dining room!”
“Well I’m sorry if I’m the only one I can count on right now…”
“I’m stretched as thin as you are! Every time we get on top of something, it seems like something else happens…”
“We don’t even know who the intruders were,” Amara says, a worried expression on her face. “You said it was a witch and a vampire?”
“Yes, definitely,” I confirm.
“Well, that could be anybody,” Celine sighs. She runs a hand through her dark brown hair. There are lines around her eyes, and her pale skin is drawn and even more colourless than usual. “We’ll just have to stay vigilant.”
She gives me a nod, and exits my office. But Amara doesn’t follow her. She leans over my desk with a tender expression. I look at her suspiciously. “What?”
“Renata, when was the last time you had any blood?”
My lip twitches. “Amara, I don’t know what you’re insinuating, but I’m perfectly well-fed…”
“I know Lily takes care of you when she’s here, but she’s been off for almost a week. I just wanted to make sure you’re taking care of yourself. You seem a little on edge, even more than usual.”
“Of course I’m on edge,” I reply. “I’m trying to hold this place together all by myself!
Do you have any idea how much work it is to manage a hotel empire?
I’ve got the Respite hotel, and our international chains, and now I have to deal with the casino and club because Celine is off chasing Xavian and Lavinia! ”
“But maybe,” Amara says, her voice frustratingly gentle. “Maybe you don’t have to do it all yourself, Renata. I know Amrita was a little hasty in her plan for a summer internship program, but perhaps you could train those students to take some of the burden off…”
“Do you think that motley collection of unmotivated university students is going to be able to do what I do?” I huff in response, tossing my hair back at the ridiculousness of her suggestion. “I operate at a very high level!”
“I’m sure you do, Renata, but the reality is, you’re never going to think anyone else is as competent as you,” Amara says.
“But if you don’t let other people help you anyway, you’re going to work yourself into the ground.
You’ve got to let go a little bit. Give Lexi some more responsibility.
Let some things go. Do you really need to host so many weddings and conferences? You’ve got so much money…”
“You don’t understand…”
“What I understand is that people need balance, Renata. Even vampires. I see you every day. You get out of your coffin and immediately come into this office, then you work until sunrise and you go back to ground. You never leave the office, or the hotel. No wonder you’re so stressed!”
“I’m a vampire,” I snap. “I don’t have a functioning nervous system like you do, Amara! I can’t get stressed.”
She shakes her head. “I’m just saying, Renata, you’re important. More important than this hotel, or Tudor’s business. Don’t work yourself to death…or I guess, don’t work yourself until you’re dust…”
Her words pierce my heart like a dagger.
I steel myself against the pain in my chest, and respond through gritted teeth.
My voice is low, but my tone is biting. “This isn’t some tiny bakery in a backwoods tourist town, Amara.
This is a multi-billion-dollar hotel empire.
Vampires aren’t like good witches. And I never asked you for a motivational speech.
If I wanted that, I would attend Amrita’s keynote address. ”
I sit back down at my desk and pull my laptop out. Amara swallows, a pained expression in her eyes.
“Now if you don’t mind,” I tell her sharply. “I have work to do. The sun rises in a few hours.”
She nods, and without another word, leaves my office.
But the ache in my chest remains.