Chapter 33
Could her mom fight him so Morgan could get past? What would happen if her mother staked a vampire right on the tradeshow floor?
Her mother stepped up to the vampire. Leaned in. Kissed him on the cheek. “Thank you again, Bernie. You remember my daughter Morgan? We’re in a bit of a hurry.”
Morgan gaped at her mother. “You… You know him?” “Well, who did you think bought the badge, pumpkin?” Fiona said.
Vesper blocked the sunlight streaming through the glass walls with an old-school (almost certainly enchanted) umbrella that reminded Morgan of the bankers in Mary Poppins.
Somehow he made it look fashionable. He captured Fiona’s hand, kissed the back of the knuckles gently, and looked up at her mother with the devotion Morgan had seen countless times before—on the faces of mermen and werewolves and, of course, her father.
Oh. One of the reasons Fiona had warned her off Luke, then.
“He owes me several favors. This clears one of them.”
“But not the big one.” Vesper’s smile was crooked and a little sad.
“He, ah, knows?” What would he do when he realized Morgan was trying to undermine the soul market scheme Renata had supported?
“The lovely Fiona here was kind enough to point out succeeding would make old Belly-bowl terribly smug, and I do so hate that,” the vampire said, continuing to make cow eyes at her mother, which was not at all awkward. He hadn’t dropped her hand.
“And Renata?”
“Oh, I’m sure she’ll be very miffed, but it’s just because she’s bored.
It’s all right, I’ll tell her she showed nice initiative and give her a bonus and a promotion and she’ll be right as rain, the dear.
Put her in charge of our regional operations of one of the little European countries, one of the pretty ones.
Denmark or Belgium or something, she’ll like that.
Not Transylvania: there’s a reason we all left Transylvania, all that fog and torches and such. ”
Morgan nodded because it seemed to be expected. “It’s lovely to meet you and all but I’m afraid I’m really under a deadline here.”
“Oh, well, that’s not right at all,” the vampire continued, looking slightly affronted. “You’ll never get anywhere in corporate politics that way. You need to make them wait for you.”
“I’m sure you’re right, but nevertheless,” she said, shifting from foot to foot. This was costing too much time.
“Well, then we’ll have to help.” The vampire smiled sunnily. “What can I do?”
She almost replied reflexively that there was nothing they could do, but that wasn’t true. “I need as much time before Brad gives the demo as I can get.”
“Oh, I think we can help with that,” Fiona smiled. “Bernie, dear, do you feel like asking questions at the demo before theirs? A great many questions?”
“I am excellent at asking questions!” the vampire said proudly.
Morgan nodded, mentally apologizing to the poor company before hers for the pain she was about to unleash upon them. “And your colleague?”
Fiona smiled. “Steve has his hands full with the Valefar guy. You’re safe. Go!”
Morgan took off powerwalking again, switching to the next aisle over to come up to the back of the booth.
Fortunately, by this point, the rest of the team were all in the front preparing for the reporters and investors to arrive, with Gisele huddled on the ground in the narrow space behind their back wall and the curtain that divided them from the next booth.
A pile of giveaways with a Post-It labeled Justin’s, Don’t Toss!
! were wedged in beside her. She sat with her laptop in her lap, Rix curled up next to her.
“Luke got you up to speed?”
“Only kind of. Not sure I get it. Then he ran out to summon Bel’aliol. Who went for the Italian three-piece suit for his glamour, by the way. His shoes are so polished I can see myself in them.”
“All right, so here’s what I’m thinking.
The contract is on the iPad, and we’re casting it up to the big screen in the back when Kelly signs it, right?
And there’s the whole bit where Brad pauses to highlight the soul clause, ha ha, very funny.
What if we make the clause a static slide—tell him it’s so you can zoom in so people can read it—and then change just the contract on the iPad?
So it looks like the contract includes the clause but the thing she signs doesn’t? ”
Gisele nodded. “I can do that. I’m already set up to control the rest of the presentation from back here, since half the website doesn’t work anyway. But I need a few more minutes to make the switch, and our slot is supposed to be any minute now!”
Morgan craned her neck around the edge of the exhibitry. Farther down the row, Vesper was gesticulating in front of a very confused-looking group, his dapper umbrella tucked under his arm now that he was in the safely windowless exhibit floor. “I think we have a couple more minutes.”
But even as she spoke, the host leading the Spotlight Series investor parade was shepherding the group on, trying to keep them on schedule. “Can you go any faster?”
“Do you want them to be able to tell?” Gisele snapped. Morgan gnawed at her thumbnail. The investors and reporters were arriving at the booth. She ducked back so they couldn’t see her.
Brad was starting his pitch. She looked over Gisele’s shoulder as she frantically moved files around, projecting the presentation up on an alternate screen even as she continued to fix the alignment on the screenshot.
“And how exactly is this different from Juicero?” asked a familiar voice.
Mentally, she blessed Stavrula. She didn’t know whether her mother had grabbed the reporter and asked her to delay, or whether she’d decided to go for the jugular on her own.
“Ouch!” Brad made it sound like a joke, but she could tell he was annoyed to be compared to the legendary startup who had failed when it had been revealed their juicer packs could be squeezed by hand instead of by their $750 machine.
“Well, for one thing, I don’t think you’re going to find anyone who wants to shred kale by hand. ”
He paused while the rest of the reporters laughed obediently.
“But also, sometimes success is a matter of timing. I don’t think the world was ready for subscription juices back in 2017.
Now, we have a sophisticated target audience that has grown accustomed to all its products being subscription-based. ”
Morgan didn’t think most consumers were so much accustomed as bitterly resigned to everything being on a subscription model, but she needed him to keep talking. “Now?”
“Got it!” Gisele swapped in the new file and breathed a sigh of relief.
Morgan turned her phone camera to front-facing, and eased the camera around the bend like a mirror so she could see what was going on.
Brad had shown off the many smoothie flavors, all of which were static, unclickable images—and none of which existed yet.
He clicked the order button and, rather than the button loading the site, Gisele swapped in the next screen from behind the wall.
“We’re so confident that this is going to change our customers’ lives that we’re asking them to put their money where their mouth is. Or rather, their soul. Only a teeny bit, though—because while most of us would sell our souls for better health, all we’re asking for is a fraction!”
Gisele’s mockup zoomed in on the soul clause and the audience laughed again.
Morgan re-angled the camera. Luke was standing near the front, anxiously twisting his hands.
The handsome man next to him with the sharp suit and salt-and-pepper hair watched the presentation, eyes glittering. She swallowed.
Kelly walked up at Brad’s gesture, smiling broadly and picking up the iPad.
Morgan swallowed, her mouth dry. This was a terrible last moment, sitting on cheap industrial carpet under fluorescent lighting, listening to stock music on the demo video loop from the booth next door for the hundredth time that day.
She’d never been to Paris. She’d never even had a job she liked.
She was never going to get married or have kids or accomplish much beyond saving the world, and almost no one would even know she’d done that.
Kelly typed her name and clicked the tick box acknowledging the terms and conditions. She hit the Accept button.