SNAP: The World Unfolds (18 page)

SNAP’s New York office was secondary to LA’s. Since the magazine, and

then the TV shows, were spawned by movie coverage, they were produced in the Los Angles area and got feeds from everywhere else. In fact, we didn’t cover a lot of New York society or celebs unless they had some entertainment connection or were just too big to completely ignore. This meant that most of the East Coast people were safe from our paparazzi and freelancers. It even meant politicians were out of the celeb loop, at least until they got caught with their pants down.

New York may have been a secondary office, but the Baron was nobody’s fool when it came to appearances. The offices were at 50 Rockefeller Center, in the same building as The Associated Press headquarters.

A car with the usual demon driver picked me up the next morning just after 9. His instructions were to get me to the office and into the elevator with no muss, fuss or bother.

Getting off the elevator the next morning was almost home. One blond was behind a black granite counter and behind her was the ubiquitous mirror etched with the SNAP logo. She looked up and smiled—no ice princess here—and said, “Good morning Ms. Gwenoch, we’ve been expecting you.”

The receptionist and I walked through the mirror into an office space with fewer cubicles than home. As we walked back to the private offices, I realized there were differences. Here, phones rang. They were quiet, but they weren’t gurgling. And when I got to the office of Harry Jonas, the New York managing director, he not only had windows, but the sun streamed in.

He stood up and came around his desk. “It’s so nice to finally meet you, Ms. Gewnoch,” he extended his hand. The receptionist popped back up with a tray containing a coffee pot and two cups. “Do you want it in here, or in the one you’ll be using,” she asked, nodding to an office two doors down.

We walked a few steps and Harry swung open my office door. I had a desk, two monitors, a fax, phone, pens, headsets, just like home except the view.

“When they called from Hungary and said you’d be stopping here, we called your assistant in LA and she told us how you liked to work.”

Oh boy, even heads of state and protocol chiefs could take lessons in how the Baron ran his empire. Planned, punctual, polite par excellence. The receptionist set the coffee down. “Thanks again,” I nodded and she turned a little pink.

It was clear that the staff of the New York office was regulars. Neither a vampire nor a donor would have had that rush of blood when she or he was embarrassed. If fact, I hadn’t ever seen any of them shy
or
embarrassed. I understood again that I had a lot to learn if I wanted to throw my lot in with the Kandesky family and its hangers-on. The problem was that they’d had years and years and years to learn social skills, to learn to keep their emotions in check, to feel completely self-assured in their skins and to know and appreciate their places.

“I managed to get through most of my emails last night,” I said to Harry. “Do you have anything pressing?”

“No, not really. We don’t cover as much as you guys out on the coast do, so much of my day is spent juggling freelancers and paparazzi. I have one guy who sticks close to Caroline Schlossberg, I mean Caroline Kennedy. New York City is lousy with old money, old families, society with a capital S, celebrities. It’s the people you see in the
Times
or the
Daily News
even
Newsday
but it’s not like movie or media people who have recognition everywhere so our staff here is smaller.”

Not that we were looking for hordes more people; we weeded through every show and every edition as it was.

And this was only in the United States. If we were ever short, we still had the Royals, the Europeans, the South American polo and money class. The world was populated by people whom other people wanted to read about or hear about or emulate or envy. Privacy was beginning to be a scarce commodity.

Harry stood. “I’ll give you a couple of hours to catch up. I thought we could go to lunch and then swing by a few clubs and see if they have anything going tonight.”

It sounded like a good plan, particularly the part about leaving me alone. I did want to spend an hour or so with Jazz, and see if Carola, Chaz and the others were home yet. I needed to check my own reality. Was it true that I’d spent the last few days in an Hungarian castle with vampires? With vampires who were both my employees and my bosses? With demons who guarded me and other vampires who were after me?

I spoke at length to Jazz and conferenced with the art director and a couple of layout people on the print issue. Things ran smoothly in my absence and I slipped back into a work mode easily.

Chaz, Carola and the others who’d gone to Hungary were due in the office today. I was afraid to ask. Jazz sensed my hesitation.

“Jean-Louis isn’t coming back with them. There’s a rumor that he’s on some special assignment for the Baron. Maybe trying to find a replacement for Pen. That sounds like Jean-Louis, getting an assignment to find and photograph beautiful women all over Europe.” She snickered.

“OK, don’t you guys out there have anything better to do than to start rumors and gossip about co-workers?” My tone must have been way sharp because I could hear Jazz suck in her breath.

“Uh, yes, we have plenty to do. I just thought you’d want to hear where everybody is.” I could feel waves of hurt coming through the phone.

“It sounds as though everything is set for this week.” I forced a calmer tone. “You’ve done a good job of holding the office together while I was gone. Thank you. And thank you for setting me up with the shoppers at Saks and Neiman. All of the clothes were a hit. You should have seen some of the others, as well...” I stopped myself. I wasn’t sure that Jazz was aware and fully understood the implications of working for vampires.

“It looked like some of the other women shop in Paris. The clothes were lovely.” It was a lame ending, but Jazz had heard the thank you’s as sincere and that was what mattered.

Jazz’ voice regained her normal bounce. “How is the New York office, by the way? I’ve never been there.”

“It’s nice. It’s at the Rockefeller Center complex but it’s not right in the middle. I only have a view of some other skyscrapers. When I have to come back, I’ll try and finagle a way to get you here, too, if you’d like.”

“That would be super. Where are you staying?”

“I’m at the Baron’s apartment off of Park Avenue. I’ve always been in a hotel before and this is pretty swanky.”

“Oohhh,” Jazz sucked in her breath again, this time with admiration. “That’s cool, Maxie. Not everybody gets to stay there. Getting invited to the castle and now staying in the Baron’s New York apartment...you’re coming up in the world. Does that mean that I’m coming up, too?”

If only she knew what I was coming up to.

Actually, I wasn’t sure what I was coming up to. At best, I was falling in love with a vampire, not the easiest path to true love. At worst, I could be the cause of some arcane war, where everybody involved in the Baron’s empire could lose their jobs if not their lives. And I would lose Jean-Louis. Maybe I wanted to come down in the world.

After the remoteness and quiet of the castle, with the exception of the Huszars, New York felt like a panic. People, people, people. I had been used to this energy before and even thrived on it. During my stint in London at
Hello!
I used to just walk the streets soaking up the swirling masses. Different looks, different languages, different faces came by me at a rush and gave me an adrenaline high. This sense of potency came back to me as Harry and I walked a few blocks to lunch.

He’d chosen a smallish restaurant for the quiet and the food. It wasn’t a be-seen place and we had time to catch up on what was planned for the next print edition, who we’d like to focus on over the next couple of weeks and how we were planning to replace Pen. It was clear Harry was a regular, and one of the employees who didn’t know about the vampires. He had close to twenty years in celeb journalism and knew his stuff, so I could see why the Baron had put him in such a trusted place as the New York manager. We may not feature a lot of New York faces but New York is
the
world class city.

Leaving the office, the car was waiting and it was a replay of last night. The driver escorted me to the apartment, came in and took a seat in the foyer.

“I need some time,” a hint he could leave.

He nodded. “I’ll be ready. I have new orders. I’ll be with you 24/7. The housekeeper has set up a room for me. I will stay out of your way as much as I can.”

OK, this was too much. Again, I was feeling like a prisoner, not just being protected. I wanted to talk to someone about this but Carola was on her way to L.A. and, with the time difference, Pen, Jean-Louis and the Baron were meeting to work on the “little Huszar adventure.” It would have to wait until I get back from the clubs.

This demon’s name turned out to be Paolo and we picked up Harry and headed out. Going out was a cumbersome project. Paolo would have the valet park while he escorted us into the club, then he’d stay at a spot near the door, keeping a sight-line on me. When we were ready to leave, he’d check the car thoroughly before he let us in. I wondered what Harry though of all this undercover, secret spook stuff, but he seemed to take it in stride. Probably this was the way the Baron and the others got around when they were in town.

By midnight, I was tucked up in the comfortable bed in the Baron’s apartment, with Elana in her suite and Paolo next door. I’d picked up the phone to call somebody at the castle and give them a piece of my mind but I didn’t get it dialed before it rang.

“Paolo has orders to call Sandor every time he moves you. We don’t think you’re in as much danger in New York, which is why we wanted you to stop there first. We’re putting a whole new security network together and this is the first time we’ve tried it. From the tone of your voice, I‘d guess it’s working.”

“If you mean that I’m going to be watched al day, every day by demons, yes, I’d say it’s working. And I don’t like it!”

I could hear his sigh. “Stefan and I have been meeting with Sandor for hours over how to make this work, and you’re being difficult. There’s a lot riding on this whole plan. First, it’s to keep you safe. Remember, you’re the bait, or what was the word you used—pal?”

“Not pal, chum. It’s like seeding the water with a lot of bait. It sets up a feeding frenzy.”

“That’s a much better word.” Jean-Louis’ voice verged on laughter. “It’s exactly what we want the Huszars to go into. A feeding frenzy can get the predators to turn on each other or at least get confused about their targets. It would be ideal.”

I couldn’t contain my disgust. “OK, you want me safe so that the violent vampires can go after me. Why does that make me feel like a tethered goat in tiger country? It sure sounds safe to me!”

Jean-Louis’ voice hardened. “Stop it. You know that’s not the only reason I want your safety. But right now, the future of you, me, the Baron, the Kandesky family, SNAP depends on how—if—we can get the Huszars to the talking table. Stefan and I are doing everything we can to avert a war and you have got to help if you want to stay a part of us.”

There was silence. Crap. Had I pulled the hurt teen again? I didn’t mean to, it just slipped out when I thought that he was only looking at me as a pawn in this blood-sucker power struggle. If I kept this up, I wouldn’t be bait any more. I wouldn’t be anything associated with Jean-Louis, SNAP or the vampires. I’d go back to my humdrum life, looking at celebrities from behind the velvet rope, wearing knock-off gowns from a cheap seconds store and yelling, “Over here, over here..”.