Authors: Michele Drier
“I don’t think she has serious damage,” he said to someone else in the room. “I think what we’re seeing is the remains of a concussion from when her head hit the cobblestones. We need to watch her, but I don’t think it’s serious enough to get her an MRI. Beyond the concussion, she has some bruising on her rib cage and a few scrapes. I’d guess it’s from being slung around. A couple of Vicodin and she should be fine tomorrow.”
“Thank you.” Jean-Louis’ voice. Noncommittal. The doctor took off the cuff, packed everything away, put two pills on the bedside table and left.
Left me with Jean-Louis.
I looked up at him. “I’ve never fainted before.” What a great opening line!
He shook his head, his beautiful hair falling across his dark eyes. “I don’t even know where to start.”
“Well, do I still have a job?”
At that, he actually smiled and a slight glimmer highlighted his face.
“You are beyond belief. You’re attacked, injured, found by enemies we didn’t even know we had, put a hitch in our negotiations with the Huszars and the only thing you can ask about is your job?”
“I figure you’re so mad that you’ll dump me, but at least I can manage if I still have a job.”
“Dump you? Oh lord, woman, speak English! If you mean I’m not interested in you any more, that’s not true.”
Well, here was a thin shaft of hope. But what kind of interest did he have? I could still be the chum the Kandeskys were using to attract the disaffected Huszars. I could still be used to start the Eastern European version of SNAP. I could still be used as a cautionary tale of how not to behave.
His next words stunned me.
“You persist in thinking that I have some kind of schoolboy crush on you. That my feelings for you are temporary. I’ve told you that I love you. It’s not something I planned, and I don’t know how I can make it work, but it’s not temporary or easy or light.”
He turned toward the windows, pale with moonlight. “I’m most concerned about what may happen in a few years, as you age and I don’t. You may decide that you’re not comfortable looking older than me. And eventually, you’ll die...I won’t. I need to be prepared for that. But dump you? No, not in the cards.”
Hmmmm. I guess I hadn’t lost Jean-Louis so that meant I’d lost my job. Giving up my heart or my soul; not a choice I was happy about.
“Who will you get to replace me? Jazz is doing a wonderful job, but I don’t think she knows enough to tackle the expansion.”
He whirled around and his expression frightened me. “What are you talking about?” His jaw was set and the words hissed out like venom.
“Well, I know you’ve called a family meeting, Francois said he’d see me then. I figure the agenda is to find my replacement. I’ve endangered the family again and brought new threats.”
“Yes, all that is true. But not unexpected, you ninny. We just didn’t expect it to happen in Paris, or this early, but now that it has, we may have to shift our plans slightly. We thought the Huszars would find some lowlifes to work for them, and they have. Because we’re looking at Ukraine and Russia, who better than traditional rabble rousers like the Chechens.”
I wasn’t completely following his comments. I was so astonished that I couldn’t get past the facts that I wasn’t fired, that I hadn’t lost my lover. If I wasn’t going to be punished in some way, then what the hell
was
happening?
My stupefied expression stopped him. “Why are you looking so dumbfounded? What did you expect?”
Here was a question I could answer. “I expected...I expected...that you’d be so angry, that...er...hummmm...I don’t know what I expected. That you were so disgusted with me you didn’t want me around either personally or professionally.”
“You’re stammering. That’s interesting.” His tone was clinical. “I’ve never seen you at a loss for words. I guess this little fiasco made an impression.”
Okay, the gloves were off. “Little fiasco? I try to have a normal few hours, even taking a demon with me, get abducted, pummeled on, slung around like a feed sack, end up with a concussion, hustled out of Paris like a crook, greeted like a paroled prisoner...”
He was actually grinning. “I was pretty sure that would get a rise out of you! I don’t like seeing you acting like a whipped dog. Now, do you want to discuss this like two intelligent adults?”
A few minutes ago, I was devastated, thinking that Jean-Louis might want me out of his life. Now I was so pissed that I felt like walking. “You are impossible. I never met anyone so hard to understand and figure out. Why did I get such a chilly reception when I got here? And Elise? Offering me soup? It might as well have been bread and water, the message was so clear. And you! Where were you?”
“Oooh, I love it when your blood is up.” He snickered at his bad pun. “Not that I owe you any explanations, but we were in the village, meeting with some of the rest of the family. If we can’t get Karoly and his followers set up to take on Matthais, the villagers, and that part of the family, will be the first causalities. They need to understand what we’re doing and agree to the next steps. We couldn’t just cancel to handle your little to-do and sudden arrival from Paris.
“And don’t for a minute think that Huszar hangers-on weren’t watching. If we’d rushed back to take care of you, Matthais would think that the Chechen attack had a big impression on us and he’d up the tension.”
“You people,” I was almost hissing myself, now. “You people are just like onions! You peel off layers and underneath, there are more layers! It’s like trying to find my way through a house of mirrors! Nothing is what it seems.”
“Ah, and how do you think we’ve survived and prospered for centuries? Everyone talks about Byzantine politics. Who do you think we learned from?”
There it was again. I was up against four or five centuries of experience in developing trade and business agreements, in making pacts with various enemies and forging and undoing alliances. And not just the vampires. They’d been around to watch and learn for 500 years of European countries slaughtering each other. No wonder they didn’t take people into their confidence easily.
Chapter Thirteen
Now that I knew I wasn’t going to lose either my job or Jean-Louis, I relaxed enough that the pain pills kicked in.
“Stay with me love, I think I’m going to collapse” I managed to get out before my head hit the pillow. The next I knew, Elise was hovering in the doorway.
“What’s the matter?”
“Hello, Maxie, I didn’t want to disturb you. Jazz has been calling.”
“How long have I been out?”
“Almost twelve hours, it’s afternoon.”
My ribs and head tried to resist when I sat up and slid out of bed, but the only way to get through the pain was to get active, so I asked Elise for coffee and headed to the bathroom. A hot shower helped some, Elise’s coffee helped more and in a few minutes I was talking to Jazz. It was awkward with the time difference, but she’d stayed up waiting for my call.
“Oh-my-god, Maxie, I’m so glad to hear your voice.” Jazz’ SoCal breathless speech pattern felt homey and comfortable. “I kept getting these weird, cryptic e-mails and messages that something happened to you in Paris. Some people thought you were dead, or you’d been kidnapped. I even had another show call and ask me if I been tapped to replace you! It’s been a zoo around here!”
“Hah, the rumors of my death! I’m here and OK.”
“Tell, tell, what happened?”
“You know the Kandeskys and Jean-Louis, they must have been the models for the Official Secrets Act or the CIA. Getting a straight answer out of them is, well, it’s just not gonna happen. The gist of it is that I went off, with Denis in tow, to spend a couple of hours just looking. I wanted to go to Notre Dame, and that’s not high on the vampire tour list. I guess the Huszars hooked up with some of the Chechen thugs and I was, am, being watched. It only took a few seconds for me to get separated from Denis and, wham, I’d been grabbed.”
“Did they get you away?”
“No, Denis, and then Michele, were right there. The Chechen dropped me, I whacked my head on the cobblestones, have a slight concussion and am embarrassed as hell. Every time I want to do something normal, some stupid gangster type moves in on me. I’m getting pretty tired of it and I know Jean-Louis is too.”
“Now that I know you’re OK, we need to do something about these rumors.”
“Yep. Can you draft a release that says I slipped on the street while visiting Notre Dame, have been looked at by a doctor and am resting comfortably for a day before going back to work?”
“You bet. What’s next?”
“Add that I’m gong to Kiev next week to begin talks for the Eastern European edition of SNAP and will be looking for talent and staff.”
Silence. Then Jazz’ voice whispered, “Maxie, do you think that’s smart? You were just attacked and now you want to announce where you’ll be next week? They’ll be waiting for you!”
“Jazz, they’ll be waiting for me anyway. Jean-Louis won’t cop to it, but I know that he knows the Huszars have me watched probably as close as the demons watch me. I wouldn’t be surprised if they have my bathroom here tapped.”
Jazz sounded like a vacuum, sucking air. “They wouldn’t!”
“Well, they would if they could, but I’m pretty sure they can’t. But if I can’t get answers from Jean-Louis about what’s going on, I’m just going to have to head out on my own.”
We hung up, I tackled more than 200 e-mails and felt well enough to put on some jeans, pick up a couple of demons and head outside for some air. Sandor wouldn’t let me out with only one guard, so I had Vladmir and a new one, Vassily. It felt like a parade with the short bit of fresh air uneventful and calming.
I was dressing for dinner when Vladmir pounded on my door then let Jean-Louis in. “Why are we on some kind of amusement park roller coaster?”
His voice was light, but his eyes were sparking.
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“You’re about as innocent as a blizzard. You’re whipping around, piling up snow so deep that you think I can’t find you. What kind of game are you playing, Miss ‘I’m gong to Kiev next week’?”
“What? Can’t I do my job?”
“Why did you announce it to the world before checking with me, er, us?”
“I didn’t think I needed your permission to set up business meetings.”
That stumped him.
“Of course not.” He was flustered and backpedaled. “It’s just that, well, I need to, that is Sandor and I need to schedule the guards and make arrangements.”
Oh right, Jean-Louis was going to make my travel reservations? That pig wasn’t flying. What else was going on?
“I announced it ‘to the world’ because I wanted the world to know that I was fine and that a little fall in Paris wasn’t going to stop me from doing the job I was hired to do; set up an edition of SNAP to serve Eastern Europe. I’m scouting locations. Since I’m apparently being watched all the time by hired thugs—at least I figure that the Chechen was on the Huszar payroll—it won’t matter if I announce it, they’ll know anyway!
“Are we going down to dinner?”
Jean-Louis looked at me. I couldn’t tell what his expression meant, but he finally pursed his lips and blew out a sigh.
“Let’s go. I hate to admit it but you’re right, if this were just your normal job, I wouldn’t have a say in where or when you went. I have trouble keeping my personal emotions out of it.”
“Tell you what, I’ll check with you if you’ll let me in on all your doings with the Huszars. And that doesn’t mean sitting for hours in meetings, listening to you guys speak Hungarian or any other Slavic languages.”
I grabbed a Pashmina shawl, almost knocking over a table lamp as I slung it around my shoulders, and stomped out the door. This time, Vladmir knew enough and stood back as I came through. He nodded at Jean-Louis. Did the demons talk about me when I wasn’t around? Swap stories of how difficult I was? Wonder how Jean-Louis put up with me?
Not my problem.
Chapter Fourteen
My pre-dinner barb must have made an impression. After dinner, a small family affair with just the Baron, Pen, Carola, Bela, Jean-Louis and me, we moved into a small salon for a true meeting.
Pen and Carola started it off, surprisingly taking my side.
“You think you’re taking care of Maxie when you keep her in the dark about your plans. But that’s just trivializing her feelings, treating her like child.” Pen was serenity itself as these strong words dropped into the room.
Carola took it up. “I imagine that you’re still reacting to Magda’s murder. You probably think that you didn’t do enough to keep her safe. The truth is, you can’t lead people’s lives for them. If you keep a plant safe in a closet, it won’t get stolen, but it will die. Maxie is a grown, intelligent woman, traits that make her so valuable to us.
“You have to remember that those traits make her valuable to the Huszars, as well. What we, you, need to do is work with Maxie, bring her in on all our planning and the meetings with the Huszars. If she’s a participant in the plans, she’ll be safer and we’ll have the benefit of her point of view.”
Jean-Louis had the grace to look abashed. “I have been reliving Magda’s slaughter and it’s making me vulnerable.”
He turned to me and for the first time in days, his glimmer washed across his face, filling all the dark places and hollows with a fine light like stardust. “Welcome to the family council, Maxie.”
All the teenage angst, the drama queen antics, the snittiness, drained from me. “Thank you, Jean-Louis. And thank all of you. Pen and Carola, you understood exactly what I’ve been trying to say. I want to work with you and make SNAP and this new venture take off.”
I looked around. Now that the nicey-niceys were over, the vampires were intense, turning their energies onto the puzzle of the Huszars.
Jean-Louis took the lead. “I’ve been getting together with Karoly every day to help him with disinformation. We have to rely on word-of-mouth, but the rumor-mill is starting to move even faster. We need to encourage Karoly to actively recruit more Huszars, and to make sure he brings in members from all branches of the family.”