Chapter 22 A price
Renata
My fingers race over the keyboard, and my eyes fly across the screen.
It’s almost six a.m., and I’ve been in the zone for the past several hours.
Lily doesn’t start for another hour or so, and as much as I’ve enjoyed our escapades, her absence has meant that I’ve had all night to really focus and get things done.
“Renata!” Lexi shouts, letting herself into my office. I hiss at her. I should really lock my door when Lily isn’t there to vet who enters my office. I make a mental note to update the fingerprint sensor so it only recognizes Lily and I.
Lexi glares at me. “Renata, what are you doing? You’ve sent me like, seven emails in the past twenty minutes. I can’t revise the new social media campaign plan and also approve the marketing budget for next quarter in the same night! The sun is going to rise any minute.”
“You don’t need to do it now,” I tell her, without looking up from my screen. “But I need them both by Friday at the latest. I’m putting together a preliminary strategic plan for next quarter, and I need your updated budget to do that.”
“For next quarter,” Lexi moans. “Ren, that’s months away!”
“Yes, Lexi, that’s why it’s a plan.”
She growls. “Just because you’re an insane workaholic, doesn’t mean the rest of us have to be!”
Hallie pops her head into my office. She holds a print-out in her hand.
“Renata, is this right? You want mid-term evaluations for all of the internship students? Are you sure it matters, I mean, Professor Vyas said she wasn’t even tracking our grades.
I think she actually forgot about the internship program.
When I mentioned it to her, she said, ‘oh, are they still doing that? I wasn’t actually serious about it. ’”
“Yes,” I reply briskly. “Amrita might not care about consistency or follow-through, but I do. And I want to know how all of the students are doing. I’d like to select the top candidates to help out at the witch conference, but I can only do that with a recommendation.”
Hallie’s face lights up. “Really? If I get Professor Cross’s recommendation, can I help out?”
“Absolutely.”
“Great! I think he’s gone to ground for the day, but I’ll find him first thing tomorrow night,” she says, before disappearing into the office hallway again.
“See,” I say to Lexi. “Some people rise to the occasion when you give them a challenge.”
“Some people are suck-ups,” Lexi responds primly. “And I think you’re going to work yourself until you’re totally unable to function, unless you get some blood inside of you, Renata. It’s not healthy!”
I hiss at her again, still not looking up from my computer screen.
“Fine! But I’m going to ground, because I have good work-life balance.”
With one hand, I take the World Luxury Hotel 2023 award from the shelf behind me and throw it at my sister, but she dodges it with a laugh and scampers out of my office.
Maybe my aim is off. It probably wouldn’t hurt to ask Lily to schedule another donor for me, or to even go down to the club tomorrow night to make sure I stay sharp.
But as my fingers dance across the keys of my keyboard, I can’t help feeling a little high off of all my hyper-focusing. There’s something about the restless urgency of bloodlust that keeps me going. The edginess gives me…well, it gives me an edge.
And then the twinkle of dawn in the sky pulls me down again.
I groan. I can’t stop now. I’m so close to finishing the shareholder report, and I promised I would have it off this week.
Not to mention signing off on the wedding plan for this upcoming weekend.
If I don’t get to it tonight, they won’t be able to start prepping the food orders until Thursday, and the staff is always busiest just before the weekend.
I can push myself just a little bit. Vampires can technically be awake during the day, it just drains us of our energy a little bit.
But I can push through that. I take the remote for my electric blinds and press the button to lower and seal the blinds around the windows.
Then I find a pair of sunglasses in the bottom of my desk drawer.
That’s better. With the blinds and sunglasses, the heaviness of the coming sunrise weighs a little less on my bones. I can probably go another hour or even two, if I keep pushing.
My office door opens again. When is Lily getting in? I need a gatekeeper.
Xia comes up to my desk. “Renata, did you send this email about internship mid-term evaluations? It doesn’t make any sense…”
“Yes, I need you and Damien to grade the students,” I tell her. “And I’d like a full security report for the club, as well. I’m concerned about Xavian’s vampires, and we need to make sure there are no opportunities for them to take advantage of us.”
“Ren, I think you need to go to ground,” the witch says. “You look exhausted, and you’re not functioning well. We’ve got security handled for the day, why don’t you…”
“I’m fine,” I snap. “Why does everyone keep telling me to stop working? I can operate on no sleep, I’ve been doing it for decades!”
“That doesn’t mean you should,” Xia retorts.
A wonderful smell fills the air as Lily pops her head through the open door of my office. As much as I’d like to greet her properly, I know that if I stop now, I’ll lose momentum. I give her a wave, without breaking eye contact with the wedding plan that’s up on my screen.
“Renata?” she says. “What are you doing? The sun rose twenty minutes ago.”
“Just getting a few more things done,” I reply curtly.
“She’s in one of her moods again,” Xia says, out of the corner of her mouth.
“I heard that!” I snap. “It might be daytime, but I still have supersonic hearing!”
In my peripheral vision, I see Xia and Lily exchange a look.
“I’ll take care of it,” Lily says.
“Good luck,” Xia mutters, then she leaves my office.
Lily tiptoes closer to the desk. Then, without warning, she presses the “sleep” button on my laptop, so my screen goes dark.
“Lily!” I snap, shocked at this level of betrayal. “I was working on something!”
But now that my focus is broken, the full weight of the morning hits me. I feel extremely heavy, like there’s a thick fog in my head. I blink several times, trying to regain concentration.
“Come on,” Lily says, gently. She takes my arm and pulls me out of my chair. “Let’s get you down to your crypt.”
“I’m perfectly fine, I…” but my words sound slightly slurred, and it’s hard to find my balance.
I must have kept myself up longer than I intended to.
Lily puts her arm around me, and helps me down the office hallway.
I’m a little embarrassed that I have to lean on her, and I try to pull away, but she holds my arm firmly.
She presses the “down” button on the service elevator.
“I…I’m sorry, Lily,” I say, as we get onto the elevator. I use my fingerprint on the button of the service elevator, which tells it to go down directly to my crypt. Unable to continue standing on my own, I sit down on the bench.
“It’s all right, Renata,” she says. “You’ll feel better once you get underground.”
She’s correct. As the elevator lowers, I start to feel slightly revived, although my head is still foggy.
I don’t know how much of it is the daytime, and how much is the lack of blood in my veins.
I can’t remember how long it’s been since I drank.
To my dismay, I discover that my hands are shaking slightly.
The elevator doors chime open on the floor that houses my crypt.
My sisters and I all have an individualized floor, designed to our own personal tastes.
I’m quite proud of mine. It’s modern and sleek, like the office floor, but has a more homey feel.
The ceilings are high and arched. I couldn’t have real plants down here, as there’s no sunlight at all, but I had leafy, realistic fake ones made.
They stand in pots throughout the space.
I don’t spend much time here, so the couches and side tables are all bare and clean.
“Wow,” Lily says, her eyes wandering over the crypt. “This is beautiful, Renata. Where’s your bedroom…I mean, your…coffin room?”
I pause, trying to think although my mind is still a bit hazy.
I don’t know if I want to show her the crypt where my coffin is.
It’s the most precious secret a vampire has, and it feels too…
intimate. But I also don’t want her to leave.
Not just yet. It’s not that I want to have sex with her again.
It’s just her company. Now that the buzz of my hyper-focus is wearing off, I’m left with a sense of emptiness. I don’t want to be alone with it.
“Let me…let me just sit for a moment,” I tell her. She helps me over to a wide chaise, and lets me recline upon it.
I sink into the plush, soft leather, my bones heavy.
“Renata, you should drink,” Lily says gently. She puts her hand on my arm, stroking my skin. Her touch is soothing. Nobody has touched me like that in a long time.
I shake my head. “No, I’ll be…”
“Don’t say, ‘fine,’” she responds. “I know you’re not fine, Renata. You’re working yourself into…well, not into an early grave, I guess, but you’re working yourself too hard.”
“I have to,” I say, but my voice trembles. Even I can tell that I’ve lost my strength. “I have to keep working. That’s what I’m good at, Lily. That’s what I do.”
“I know you’re good at it, Renata. You’re the best.” Her eyes shine proudly. It brings a small smile to my face. “But that’s not all that you are. You need to take care of yourself, too.”
She moves closer to me, on the bench. She takes her hair and pulls it back from her neck, exposing her tender skin.
“I’ve been taking iron pills,” she tells me. “One every night.”
“Are you sure?” I whisper. “Lily, I…I don’t want to take advantage of you…”
“You’re not.” She shakes her head. “I know it’s complicated, but we can figure it out. All that I care about is you, Renata.”