Chapter 15 Human Resources （part two）
Renata
The first email in my inbox the next night is from Lily, confirming that she canceled my donor. It makes sense, of course, I don’t need him now. Although I’m upset that she was working during the day. She should have been recovering and not thinking about work.
But that’s the way she is. She takes her professional duties extremely seriously. Almost as seriously as I do, and I set the bar for myself very high.
I tuck my phone into my pocket and rise from my coffin to prepare for the day. My clothes and jewelry are already spread out across my vanity, so it’s only a matter of freshening up in the bathroom and then changing. I like to be ready quickly so I can begin the night’s work.
As I comb my hair and fasten my emerald earrings, I can’t stop thinking about Lily.
Drinking blood from a human can create a magical bond with them, and I suppose since I’ve also shared my blood with her, it’s cemented our connection even further.
So I suppose it’s natural that I’m thinking of her.
Of how her eyes looked up at me last night, so trusting and sweet.
Of how she buried her face into my chest when I carried her up the elevator shaft.
Of how she moaned when I drank from her thigh.
I shake my head. I can’t think this way.
Lily is my employee, and not only that, she’s my most trusted, competent employee.
I wasn’t exaggerating or flattering her when I told her that the hotel needs her to function.
It’s true. In the past year and a half, I’ve come to rely on her to streamline my schedule and manage crises that I can’t deal with while I’m resting.
And we’re in sync, her and I. We have the same work ethic, the same values. I know that if I give her a project, she’ll do it almost as well as I could do it myself, and that’s really saying something.
I can’t lose her. And I can’t compromise our working relationship in any way. There’s too much on the line.
I step into my Jimmy Choo heels and onto the elevator. I check my smartwatch, and find to my dismay that my routine took me seven more minutes than it usually does.
This distraction is already costing me time.
“Good evening, Ms. Espina,” says the receptionist.
“Good evening.”
I hear Lily’s humming heart before I see her, and I smell the scent of sunshine and daffodils emanating from her down the hallway.
My god. Drinking her blood has tuned me into her, in a way I wasn’t before.
And…another tantalizing scent mixes in when she spots me. Something sweet…
She blushes when she sees me. Just a little flush below her cheeks, but easy to spot now.
I had always thought that her heart raced because she was nervous around vampires, and intimated by me in particular. I’m used to it, when I’m around normal humans.
But now, I wonder. Was there something else? Is there something else, in the frantic beat of her heart?
“Good evening, Lily,” I say to her.
“Good evening, Ms. Espina,” she replies, with a little nod.
She wears a cream-coloured silk shirt that hugs her in all the right places. I’m sure it’s soft against her skin. Her hair is pulled up on her head, into a ponytail, exposing her neck.
Did she do it on purpose?
No, I can’t entertain such a thought.
“Thank you for canceling the donor,” I say, trying to keep my tone as neutral as possible.
“Of course.” She breathes in. The thin material of her shirt shimmers across her chest. “Would you like me to rearrange your schedule, see if there are any appointments I can move earlier in the evening?”
I pause, struggling to keep my eyes from her neck and chest. I’m in more trouble than I thought. “No. I have some other business to attend to first.”
My tone indicates that she shouldn’t ask me any other questions about it.
I don’t want to worry her, so I go the long way around, by my sister’s office and down the hallway. I hope she assumes that I’ve gone to ask Celine or Lexi a question. But I circle back, and knock twice on the door of the Human Resources office before letting myself in.
Mel is lounging at her desk, staring off into the distance.
She doesn’t have a laptop, or even a notebook in front of her.
I give her a sharp, curious look. I wonder how long she was sitting at her desk, doing absolutely nothing, before I arrived.
Mel wasn’t my hire, and certainly wasn’t my first choice for the position of Head of Human Resources.
Tudor hired her during the Wicked Wars. She’s a mermaid, and he wanted to improve our relationship with the mermaids that occupy Silverlake.
She wears an enchanted garnet ring that magics her fin into legs so she can walk on land.
It’s a ring Tudor paid handsomely for, but I can’t say that we’ve gotten much in return for it.
“Oh,” she says. “Ms. Espina. I wasn’t expecting you, come in.”
I take a seat opposite her. Her nameplate says “Mel - Human Resources.”
“Mel,” I comment. “Is that short for something?”
“No,” she replies curtly.
I tilt my head. “Do you have a last name?”
She looks at me as though I’ve asked her a very offensive question.
I sigh. “I have a hypothetical question, Mel.” I try to think of how to phrase this. “It’s…imperative that you don’t tell anyone what I’m about to ask you. Is that understood?”
The mermaid twitches her nose. I assume that’s a yes.
“I have to ask you about employee relationships. Say, for example, that a manager were to find themselves in an…intimate relationship with one of their direct reports. I assume that we have a policy that would cover such a situation…”
Mel takes a long finger and taps her pointed front tooth thoughtfully. “Well, it’s never happened before, but it has been an issue at other hotel chains…”
“Has it?”
“Yes, well, it’s a different situation if it’s a manager with someone they supervise. That’s considered highly inappropriate and unprofessional. There was a case recently where a CEO had an affair with his assistant, if you can imagine that.”
I hold my face still. “You don’t say.”
“I know! Very scandalous stuff. They were seen by another employee of the hotel, and it was all over the front page of the papers the next day. Not that I read the papers.” Mel rolls her eyes as though the idea of reading a newspaper is ludicrous. “I’m all about podcasts, of course.”
“Of course,” I reply absentmindedly, turning over Mel’s words frantically in my head. “Well, I’m sure there are ways of handling such a situation professionally. I could imagine perhaps…having another supervisor complete their performance report, or…”
Mel barks out a single note of sharp laughter. “No, no, it was too far gone for that. It was a huge ethical breech and violation of trust. The CEO was immediately fired, and so was his assistant. The company’s stock completely tanked. People take that sort of thing very seriously nowadays.”
“I’m sure they do,” I say, my voice flat. Resigned, I stand from the uncomfortable leather chair. “Thank you, Mel. That’s helpful information.”
“You’re welcome!”
I turn to leave the office.
“It’s funny,” says the mermaid.
I look back at her. “What’s funny?”
“Someone else asked me that exact same question.”
“Really?” I raise my eyebrow. “Who?”
“Oh, you know,” Mel waves her hand. “It was the…the tiny blond one, she’s really cheerful. You know, the one with dimples, who’s always in a good mood, even though she works here.”
I grimace, but let it slide. “You mean…Lily?”
“Yeah, Lily!” Mel nods.
My eyes narrow. “Lily asked you about our policy on workplace relationships?”
“Yep.” Mel puts the tip of a pencil in her mouth, chewing on the eraser.
“And what did you tell her?” I ask sharply.
Mel shrugs. “Same thing I told you. It would be an ethical concern, and they would probably be fired.”
Well, I have a lot to think about. “Good evening, Mel.”
“Evening, Renata!” she says cheerfully, as I step out of her office and back into the hallway.
I walk by Lily’s desk as I return to my office. She’s on a phone call, explaining patiently to a cleaner how to remove blood stains.
“Yes, cold water,” she says. “Make sure it’s cold, or else it will set.” She gives me a bright smile as I press my fingerprint into the keypad to enter my office. “Running it under a faucet is best, if you can.”
I shut the door behind me, but I don’t go to my desk. Instead, I stand before the window, looking out at the dark shadows that dance upon the lake.
Lily asked Mel about whether employees could have intimate relationships. Was she…
No. No, it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter because what Mel said is true. If anything more were to happen between us, it would not only be highly inappropriate and unethical, but it would be a tremendous risk to both my position and her’s, not to mention the hotel.
It doesn’t matter how I feel about her, or whether she might have feelings for me. We can never act on them. Never even think about acting on them. What’s already transpired is more than enough.
It has to be.