Chapter 17 The wooden top
Renata
I give Lily a nod as I pass her on the way to my desk. “How was Elijah this morning?”
“He slept all the way through the night,” Lily tells me. The radiant smile on her face puts me in a good mood. “And he showed me his manicure. Thank you again for watching him last night, Ms. Espina.”
“I wish you would call me Renata,” I say. I don’t know if it’s a mistake to be more personal, but it certainly can’t hurt, can it? “We’ve known each other for a while now. We don’t need to be so formal.”
She blushes slightly, a rosy hue over her dimpled cheeks. To my pleasant surprise, she concedes. “All right, Renata.”
When I close the door of my office behind me, the flutter of her heart and the succulent smell of her blood dissipates. I wonder if it would make sense to move her desk in here…
No, I have to maintain some boundaries. I can’t move Lily’s desk into my office just so I can smell her blood. Besides, I probably wouldn’t get anything done with her tantalizing scent distracting me. I’m behind as it is.
But I allow myself one more distraction, before sitting down at my desk for the night. I go to the mahogany cabinet in the corner of my office. I don’t open it often. I don’t like the way it makes me feel. But tonight, I can’t help it.
I open the second drawer. There’s only one item inside it.
The last remaining relic of my first life.
I used to keep it in my crypt, but I never spend any time there, so I brought it up here.
My fingers reach out to pick up the colourful wooden top.
Its paint is a little faded, but it’s still perfectly round and smooth.
I remember when the vibrant green and red seemed so special, so bright.
Now everything is bright. The world is so different than it used to be.
But some things are the same. Like putting a small child to sleep.
There’s a painful throb in my chest. But for once, I don’t try to push it away. I close my eyes, holding the wooden top tightly in my fingers.
I know that some vampires forget their first life, if they live to be very, very old. But even though it’s painful, I don’t want to forget.
A voice on the desk phone speaker takes me away from my bittersweet memories.
“Renata,” Lily says. “Lexi and Hallie are here to see you.”
I put the top back in its spot in the cabinet, and I shut the drawer gently.
“Send them in,” I reply.
My sisters enter my office.
“Oh,” Hallie says, looking out at the view of the moonlit lake. “It’s dark in here.”
“The switch is beside you,” I tell her. “I keep the lights off when I’m alone.”
Hallie turns on the light. I notice that she’s holding her own Stanley tumbler, her’s a shade of purple.
I scowl at her. “Not you, too.”
“It’s actually not a bad idea!” Hallie says, taking a sip of bloodwine through the comically large straw. “You should try it!”
“I would rather be bound in silver,” I reply, taking a seat behind my desk. “What do you two want?”
“You said you wanted the reports from the internship program,” Lexi says, dropping a shiny black folder on my desk proudly. “It’s all here! I even got Damien to give them all grades, with feedback, and I asked Lily for the daytime shift report.”
“Thank you, Lexi,” I concede, taking the black folder.
“Oh, and another thing,” Lexi continues. “Can I borrow your…”
“No.” I take the black folder and open it, flipping between the reports.
She pouts. “But you didn’t even hear…”
“No.”
“Renata!” she moans. “I just bought this super-cute mauve swimsuit and I don’t have any shoes that go with it! I just need to borrow your…”
“No.”
Lexi growls.
Lily’s voice comes through my speaker. “Celine is here to see you, Renata.”
“Send her in,” I sigh.
Celine is surprised to see both Hallie and Lexi already in my office.
“Oh, good,” she says, holding up a black file folder. “You’re all here. Renata, I need to ask you…”
“I can’t take on another project,” I tell her firmly. “I’ve got enough to manage, with the wedding season in full swing, and the hotel fully booked for summer vacations. Not to mention that ridiculous witch conference that I’m supposed to plan…”
“That’s what I came to talk to you about,” Hallie interjects.
“Professor Vyas has been mentoring me over the summer, and I’m helping her write her keynote.
When we were talking, we had some ideas for the conference.
She thought it would be really fun to have a display of altars to the various Deities and Demons that witches worship… ”
“And where exactly is she going to put them?” I snap. “Does she realize how much effort I’ve put into finding enough space for all of her witches in the first place?”
“Maybe they could go in the south wing?” Lexi suggests. “Then you can use the dining hall for the broomstick flying tournament Xia and Amara are organizing…”
“The what?” I demand. “They never mentioned such a thing to me. I’m not having witches flying broomsticks through my hotel!”
“Our hotel,” Celine corrects. “Come on, Renata, it’ll be fine. I can’t speak for Xia, but I’m sure Amara will make sure that the flying stays inside the…”
I stand up, my leather chair rolling out behind me. I look my sister directly in the eye. “You want to have witches wearing robes on broomsticks in the middle of a hotel while there’s a wedding happening in the other room? Do you have any idea how ridiculous you sound?”
She grimaces. “Just let the witches handle it. We’ve got bigger things to worry about, Renata.” She hands me a black file. “It’s Xavian. He’s moved into Lazarus’s territory, in Silverlake City.”
Lexi gasps. I take the folder from Celine.
“Who’s Xavian?” Hallie asks.
“He’s a…very powerful vampire,” Celine replies.
“He’s a big asshole,” Lexi adds.
“He’s trying to acquire our hotel chain,” I mutter, taking the folder and flipping through it. Celine has CCTV and drone footage of Xavian’s vampires around what used to be Lazarus’s territory north of the city. This doesn’t look good.
“He’s trying to what?” Hallie says. “Can…can he do that?”
“Not if we stop him,” Celine crosses her arms. “Our family has controlling shares in the hotel chain, casino, club, and the holding companies. Well, Tudor does, but since he’s imprisoned, that falls to me. Technically Cedric is his eldest progeny, but he’s been disinherited.”
“What about our shares in Lazarus’s businesses?” I ask Celine, with a raised eyebrow.
“Well, that’s where things get dicey,” Celine grimaces. “The paperwork hasn’t been updated recently.”
I glare at her. “I told you and Tudor we needed a succession plan, for exactly a situation like this!”
She groans. “Renata, how was I supposed to know that Tudor would get imprisoned and Lazarus would get staked in the same night?”
“You don’t have to know exactly what’s going to happen in order to prepare for it!” I retort, tossing the file angrily to my desk. “I don’t know why you never listen to me. If we had developed a succession plan while Tudor was here, we could have had everything set up…”
“Well, we didn’t, Renata…”
“Well, you should have!”
Celine growls at me, her eyes flashing crimson. “Fine, Renata! Are you happy? You were right, and we didn’t plan ahead, and now we’re dealing with all this shit.”
“I’m not happy!” I yell back, furiously. Hallie takes an anxious sip of bloodwine from her tumbler. “I’m just sick of being the one who always has to deal with the messes you create!”
“Do you think I’m not cleaning up messes every day? Do you think I’m not doing enough? Just because I’m not an insane workaholic like you, doesn’t mean I’m not working my ass off to keep all of you safe!” Celine shouts. “We’re all doing our best, Renata!”
“Well we have to do better,” I reply. But unexpectedly, my voice breaks on the last word, coming out in a strangled sob.
My sisters look at me in concern, and I lower my gaze.
I continue, a little shakily. “I can’t…we can’t…
go back to what it was like when Tudor was here. And Xavian…Xavian would be even worse…”
There’s a thick silence in the wake of my words.
Celine crosses behind my desk, and puts a hand on my shoulder.
It’s an unexpectedly tender gesture, for her.
“Renata, that’s not going to happen. At least not if I can help it.
” She turns to our wide-eyed younger sisters.
“Neither of you will remember, but things haven’t always been as easy as they are now. ”
“Is now easy?” Hallie asks.
“Yeah, it’s not like the past hundred years have been a cakewalk,” Lexi says with a scowl.
“Do you remember the War of the Final Fire? You both act like you’re the only ones who have to deal with Tudor’s wrath, but at least he likes both of you.
He thinks you’re valuable. He always treated me like I was useless.
He used to threaten to stake me at least once a week. ”
“He locked me in a coffin,” Hallie adds. “At Elmwood, when I told him I wasn’t going to help him capture it. It was awful. I thought I’d spend eternity in there.”
“I think it’s safe to say he doesn’t like any of us anymore,” Celine sighs. “So we just have to hope that he stays locked up, and do our best to keep the other vampires away.”
She gives my shoulder a final squeeze, and all three of my sisters say goodnight.
There’s a somber quiet in their wake. I don’t like hoping.
I like doing. I have to keep myself occupied.
Maybe if I can work harder at the hotel, then Celine can focus on Xavian.
The more we earn, the more resources we have against him.
And perhaps hosting the witch conference isn’t the worst idea.
If it impresses the Triple Council, maybe they’ll support us against the other vampire clans if it comes to a conflict.
I press a button on my speakerphone. “Lily, could you bring in the file for the witch conference, please? I’m going to look over the budget and room assignments again.”
“Right away, Renata.”
Despite the anxiety in my chest, there’s a little flicker of pleasure when she says my name. I probably should have asked her to email me the file. When she enters my room, she brings with her the warm throb of her beating heart, and fills my office with the smell of sunshine.
She deposits the file on my desk, complete with coloured tabs indicating things she’d like me to look at. “Oh, I also wanted to mention to you that one of our vendors asked for a meeting tomorrow evening, but there was no time in your calendar. I thought I could ask Lexi if she would…”
“No, don’t ask Lexi. Instead, cancel my donor for tomorrow night. Schedule the vendor meeting first thing in the evening.”
She gives me a puzzled look. “Are…are you sure?”
“Yes, I’ll be fine.” I give her a firm nod, and she reciprocates.
There’s a small smile on her face that she can’t hide. I wonder if she’s thinking about when I drank from her. It’s impossible not to conjure up the memory when her scent fills my nostrils, when the soft flush across her cheeks reminds me of the flowing, delicious blood dripping from her thigh.
“That will be all, Lily,” I tell her. She swallows, and exits my office.
My god, what am I going to do? I need Lily, especially given how busy our summer is going to become. But each day, the tension between us thickens. I was hoping it would dissipate, but it’s only gotten stronger.
I take the shining black file and open it. I have to focus.
I have to distract myself the same way I always have.