She laughed knowing Ben would never move, and her mother wouldn’t want to. As they arrived at her apartment he walked her in making sure she was safe, before dropping a kiss on her forehead and leaving.
After she had showered, she closed her eyes and fell into a deep slumber. Her last conscious image contained Vlad in his large bed and her in a small blue slip.
Chapter 12
The next few weeks passed in a blur, although her body was struggling to take the changes in hours she was fighting it. She had done as she said she would do, she was showing Vlad that he needed her. After Beth had reorganized his filing, he begrudgingly admitted how much more logical it was. Having Beth check emails before he woke reduced the need to filter through spam. Beth knew his business acquaintances preferred her at the end of the line, rather than Vlad's Elite.
This afternoon she had started early so that she could collect some paperwork from one of the offices. Vlad also wanted her to report on the workings of the office and her opinion on the manager. Apparently a couple of customers had made comments about the man's attitude.
When she had arrived the manager, Colin, hadn’t seemed too pleased to see her. Initially he had refused to allow her access to all areas; according to him the orders for jewellery were highly confidential. However after reading the letter Vlad had given her; he did allow her to roam, apparently leaving him to do the job he was paid to do.
Beth had been impressed with the setup, in one area orders were taken, passed through by telephone from stores. In another area the orders came in, it was sent to be made and was then hand delivered to the customer. The making of the jewellery was done elsewhere then moved to here for inspection, the boxes were also made in this office.
What did concern her however, was finding Colin screaming at an extremely frightened woman in his office. Beth waited outside and had planned to wait until he had finished. That was until she heard him call the woman a mindless bimbo. Deciding to intervene she knocked and entered before he stopped her.
"Is everything okay?" The woman was crying but trying hard not to, it was to her Beth was addressing; through the hiccupping of tears she nodded her head.
"I am sure this is not your concern." She could hear the anger in his voice along with contempt and arrogance.
"Oh I don’t mind at all, and this is my concern. If an employee is upset Mr Tsychovsky would want to know why. As part of my report I need to comment on the process for managing complaints and challenges in the office." She was flying by the seat of her pants now.
It didn’t take long for the woman to find her voice; she touched the woman's hand to reassure her.
"I was late this morning and missed the first courier. I was meant to have prepared an order and now it won't get to the customer at the stated time." This didn’t seem a hanging offence; it wasn’t great, but certainly not a screaming offence.
"Have you advised the customer?" Rather than answering the woman nodded.
"Were they angry?" A shake of the head.
"You can go back to work while we discuss this. Oh can I ask why you were late?"
"My son was hit by a car a month ago; the only time the physiotherapist can fit us in is at eight am after that they take the private patients, but that means I don't arrive here until nine thirty." Beth was furious by the time she turned to face Colin, who in turn was also furious.
"How dare you come in here and undermine my authority? I am the manager not you, and I will be informing Mr Tsychovsky."
He was almost spitting the words at her, she would have been intimidated but living with pack had taught her one thing. Well it had taught her several things, one had been to stand your ground, watch your opponent, and wait him out. She did so now standing there with a straight back, tall. She watched him visibly shrink, his confidence slowly slipping, slowly, with slowly being the operative word.
"I should wait another twenty minutes before you do; he gets grumpy when he is woken before sundown. You know there are better ways to treat people. If you give respect you will in turn receive it."
"I am respected, Mr Tsychovsky wants business accomplished with speed, he doesn’t care how that happens."
"I think you will find that to be untrue, he cares for people and will be furious at your treatment of his employees. Unless of course that you have any evidence of ongoing tardiness, which does not have a good explanation?" It was as if they were at a standoff; he stepped closer trying to intimidate her. Beth could smell his anger, or was that his body odour?
"Do you honestly think he won't be pissed when he finds out that you have been causing trouble here? It will take me months to reassert my authority." Again with the spitting, she contemplated mentioning this but thought it might inflame the situation.
She watched some sort of light switch enter his brain, she had a feeling this wouldn’t be beneficial. It wasn’t, he stepped in closer and then started shouting at her, getting closer again, a slimy smile on his face.
"HOW DARE YOU COME IN HERE THROWING YOUR WEIGHT AROUND, GET THE FUCK OUT BEFORE I…."
He was too close, his fetid breath encroaching on her personal space. Closing her eyes she tried to find a way to stop him, and then the light switched on in her brain and bang, he stopped shouting. Instead he started squealing, blood spurting from his nose. Beth stood looking on somewhat incredulously, she hadn’t actually meant to do that she just wanted to shut him the hell up. Deciding a course of action she dialled the house.
"Hi Albert, how are you? Good um is Vlad awake yet? He is great, could I have a quick word?"
Now it was Beth's turn to be unsure, she didn’t regret her actions. Well she sort of did especially when she looked at the blood still pouring from his nose. Maybe Vlad would be pissed.
"Beth, are you okay? I was expecting you here by now." His voice sounded anxious, let's see how long it would take to get to sound angry. "I'm fine, but I sort of hit a slight problem."
"What sort of problem?" Still no anger there was a level curiosity maybe, but not anger.
"Well... I think that maybe.... I broke Colin's nose." She did not get the response she expected when Vlad started laughing.
"How is the miserable bastard?"
"Not happy, um it's still bleeding." Colin was sat on the floor with his jacket against his nose, she was starting to worry, shouldn’t it have stopped bleeding?
"Beth have a look and see how swollen it is." He was still laughing at her, she wasn’t sure why.
"I would really rather not." Just the thought of getting that close to Colin made her shudder.
"Why." The laughter had stopped.
"My blouse is silk and blood would stain it." Again the laughter, the sound was lovely.
"Shaun and Ice are on their way. Beth how did you break his nose?" She could hear him trying to stop the laughing.
"Duh, I hit him." And with that he was stood next to her.
"Damn that teleportation thing freaks me out." He didn't answer, ignoring the whimpering Colin he instead bent to lift her head.
"Please explain why you hit him."
With that Colin decided to jump in, although his voice was somewhat muffled. Vlad held up his hand to stop him.
"Beth."
With a shrug she started. "He was being an ass, shouting at me and getting in my face. I wanted him to stop so I hit him. He is not overly nice to the staff and he didn’t like being challenged." She watched his face blanch; his lips pursed a frown appearing in his forehead. There were red tinges around Vlads eyes.
"Why was he shouting at you?"
"Well because he is an ass, one of the workers came in late and missed an order. He was balling at her. I basically told him to stop being disrespectful. We had a conversation he wasn’t happy, and the rest you know." She watched him regard her, and then Colin.
"No-one has the right to shout at you; however, if someone is late Beth then Colin as the manager has to deal with it." She looked at his lovely smooth face, the pale complexion, inquisiti
ve stone grey eyes.
"Whilst I agree with that, it can be handled without shouting at someone. For god's sake she was at physio with her son; it's not her fault he was hit by a car." Vlads face was one of shock which he digested before he turned to Colin.
"Is this true?" Colin nodded before adding. "But this is the second time this month she has been late."
"Have you asked her why? Actually don’t answer that, I already know that you haven’t." Beth jumped as the door flew open to reveal Shaun and Ice. Shaun seemed amused, Ice did not.
"What was the point in sending us; if you were coming here you're fucking self?" Vlad ignored him, although his mouth was slightly upturned.
"Shaun, please take Colin for medical attention and then return him home. Please do not return here you will be compensated for the nose. However if you try to press charges, it will be the wolves who come looking for you, I may also join them. Ice can you call a staff meeting?"
Colin started to protest, Shaun ushered him out damn quickly. People were starting to pack up for the evening, most were focussing on some invisible spot on the floor and a few of the daring staff members were smiling. Vlad returned the smiles, Beth wasn’t sure what would happen now, she thought that Vlad had a plan.
"Good evening everyone, I am sure you are eager to get home so I will take only a few moments of you time. As I am sure you have gathered that your manager will not be returning to his position. Now this leaves me with a dilemma, I need a manager. However I would like an effective manager, therefore, what I would like you to do is nominates someone to take over. I am sure Beth will sort out paper, pens, and some sort of a box. This way it will be someone the people want."
Beth did as was suggested and was surprised at how eager people were to do this. Within five minutes she and Vlad were pulling out names and tallying them. She liked this more human side to him, seeing him here she noted the respectful manner people had round him.
"Who is the person you spoke of earlier the one with the sick son." Beth motioned to the woman and Vlad acknowledged her.
They saw that a female called Lou had the most nominations; in fact she alone had over half of them, Vlad smiled as if he had known that she would be the choice. She was surprised when Vlad didn’t openly name the person.
"Well thank you everyone, I will make contact with the person you have nominated and see if they are willing to take on the role. While I have you all here I would like to introduce you to Beth. She is new to Tsychovsky Industries, and is the person you contact if you have any problems during the day. Her contact details will be made available to everyone in the next twenty four hours, but I am sure you have noted the explosive impact she has. Now I will let you all go home to your families."
As everyone filed out he stopped the woman from earlier. "It's Rosa isn’t it?" She nodded which was hard to see from her shaking. Beth's instinct was to go to her and offer comfort, she didn’t. Somehow she knew this wasn’t the right thing to do.
"I apologize for not having known about your son, what is his condition?" Beth could see the relief on her face. Rosa clearly expected to be in trouble.
"He is better sir thank you. I try not to be late, but the physiotherapist offers me a special offer for early appointments and I can't refuse."
"Agreed, take whatever time you need. Now how serious are his injuries?"
"Well he suffered rib fractures, his leg was broken in three places and still causes him considerable pain, but with the physio he is improving."
"How old is he?"
"He is nine when I work he goes to my aunt's house, unfortunately she is disabled so she can't drive. His father left about two years ago, and I…well I am rambling, sorry."
"Never apologise for being a good mother. I want you to take time off fully paid of course, until he is well enough to return to school. I will have Beth call you tomorrow she will make appointments with a good physio and once they have assessed him, Tsychovsky Industries will pay all of the bills. Beth will also come and visit you both if that is okay, that way if there is anything else you require she can arrange it."
As Beth watched the woman's eyes fill with tears, realising that she wasn’t far behind her. Vlad looked to her, and she nodded agreement unable to speak through the emotions inside of her.
This man just gets better he had never looked more attractive than he did right now.
"Rosa if you know of anyone else who is in difficulty, please direct them to Beth, and she will liaise with me." As Rosa left Beth couldn’t help herself, she stepped closer to him and lifted her hand to stroke his cheek.
"That was the kindest thing I have ever seen."
"It is not kind Beth just good business sense. Now, if you don’t mind I have some work that I need to do." And then he was gone although not before she had seen the slight smile on his face.
By the time she arrived at the house courtesy of Ice, who didn’t actually say anything, she found a cell on her desk and a set of business cards. A little note was attached. "So employees can contact you." Beth hadn’t even known that she had business cards. She went through to speak to him only to find his office empty. Returning to her office she was not unhappy to see Albert.
"I believe he has an appointment this evening, madam."
Albert was stood inside of her office with a steaming hot coffee, the man was a saint. She was a little disappointed that Vlad wasn’t here. Over the last few weeks she and Albert had become quite close, spending at least a couple of hours together each night. Tonight they had planned to organise Vlads contact lists and then make the sitting rooms more homely. As beautiful as they were, they were impersonal and empty.
Albert had become her co-conspirator in the plan to make herself a fixture in Tsychovsky Industries. Setting off with the supplies they went through the bedrooms. Most of the work had been done; they had re-arranged the rooms and added flowers and accessories when she heard the piano. She looked round to find Albert had suddenly disappeared.
Following the sounds she found Vlad in the ball room wholly engrossed in the piano; his hair hanging loose over his shoulders. He had lost his usual jacket and rolled up his shirt cuffs, his body straight, eyes closed, complete concentration and relaxation masked his face. She didn’t know what he was playing she just knew that it was beautiful; there was so much passion in the sound. It almost mirrored what she felt in her body.
Without realising it she had drifted closer to him, finding herself stood next to him. She knew that he knew she was there. He didn’t stop so she moved again sitting beside him on the stool. As the piece came to a close, she closed her eyes savouring the sound, taking in the closeness of him.
"This is a dangerous game Beth." She missed the sound of the music; he started a quieter melody, where there was peacefulness in the melody.
"It isn’t a game."
"You have to realise that you are playing with fire." He wasn’t looking at her and she wasn’t looking at him. Both were staring at the keys on the piano in a room that could have held hundreds of people. They were in a tiny corner of a truly private world. The tension coiled inside their bodies neither knowing how to start or stop this.
"I don’t want to play games, I just, well I don’t know. Believe me I don’t want to hurt people, and I know this will. I can't just walk away……Can you?" Her heart was beating as fast as a butterfly fluttered its wings. She was waiting in anticipation of his answer; she prayed her feelings were not in her head.
"I am trying to believe me." He let out a weary sigh. "But unfortunately, I can't."
Her sigh was one of relief. She was waiting for him to continue but the doorbell rang. Vlad looked up suddenly; Beth was also disconcerted by the bell. This house was shroud in secrecy; she had never heard the bell go in the six weeks she had been here, it was only last week that she had been allowed to drive herself in.
"Beth, Ice will come to take you home please remain here until he arrives."
"What but it is only….."
> "Please do as I say. I need you to take some time off; I will call you when……" He didn’t finish the sentence just rushed out. It wasn't like Vlad to be ruffled, and he was certainly ruffled. She remained in the room moving towards the entrance, hoping to see what had made Vlad so tense and anxious for her to leave.
Then she heard a female voice, a loud and shrill female voice. "Vlad darling, it has been so long."
"Talia to what do I owe the pleasure. I wasn’t aware you were visiting…Ah you brought suitcases and company. Albert could you take these to the east wing, I will assist you. Talia, if you and your friends could wait from me in the sitting room."
From the crack in the door, Beth could see by Albert's face that he wasn’t happy. Beth physically struggled when a hand came over her face, covering her mouth.
"Shhhhh... it's me, now I am going to move my hand but do not draw attention to yourself." Ice slowly moved his hand; she spun to face him prepared to give him what for. But could see the look of anger on his face, she didn’t want to mess with him right now.
"Beth we need to leave now." He motioned for her to follow him out of the other doorway, away from the visitors.
Unfortunately he was not fast enough, just as they arrived at the door on the opposite end of the ballroom she heard heels clang against the floor.
"Good evening Ice, don’t tell me that you were leaving without introducing me to this lovely young lady." She watched Ice scowl, before he turned to face who ever had issued the statement. With her curiosity awakened Beth also turned wanting to see what all of the drama was about.
The woman in front of her was small with long brown curly hair reaching past her bottom, her eyes were almost blood red and narrowed on Beth, her lipstick bright red and her clothes well gown would be a more appropriate word for what was covering her body. The black gown had a high waist, no straps and it pushed her breasts so high they were almost spilling out, it flowed to her feet flaring under the multiple layers. It had to be from the 18th Century if not earlier.
"Sorry Talia but we are in a rush." Taking her arm Ice started pulling her away. Beth knew this was a crucial moment, a time to be part of Vlad's world or step away. If she were not strong enough to do this she would never survive.
Two Halves of a A Vampires Soul (The Silver Series) Page 6