Page 5 of The Vampire's Receptionist
With a heavy dose of resignation, he stood to get more. He wouldn’t get through the day without a steady stream of caffeine. He’d request an IV drip of it if he could. He was so focused on it, he didn’t notice the new arrival at the reception desk. He bypassed it, got his coffee, and went back to his office, intent on getting some work done on reassuring clients and donors that they could handle the trouble Aristeos caused. He was just sitting back down when someone knocked on his open door.
He usually left his door closed. He had a lot to do, and he didn't have time to encourage interruptions. It’d slipped his mind. He was too tired to think.
The man who stood just inside the doorway wasn’t familiar to him, but that wasn’t saying a lot. He’d only been working in this division for a few months, and he’d been so busy, he never had a chance to introduce himself to the different members of staff. He barely managed a division-wide email before he was tossed into the deep end. The man was quite pretty, though. His honey blonde hair was pulled back in a low ponytail, a few strands framing his face. His face was angular, with sharp cheekbones and a stubborn set to his jaw, but the look was softened by the most beautiful bicolored eyes Dorian had ever seen. Lilac and sapphire blue. An interesting mix. He’d never met a half blood fae before. The fae were amongst the few races that didn’t believe in interracial matings. He was shorter than an average fae, but had the same lithe frame of most of the fae Dorian had met in the past. He didn’t wear a suit like most working at Spellbound, so Dorian wasn’t entirely sure why he was here.
“Can I help you with something?”
“I was going to introduce myself before, but you looked a little like you were about to start making love to your coffee.”
Dorian’s brows shot up. “Excuse me?”
The man smirked, shaking his head lightly. “Nevermind. It’s always hit or miss if people enjoy my sense of humor. I’m Kian. I’ll be your temporary receptionist, and I’m in charge of the temps at Spellbound during this transition period. If you need anything or if you get any calls about them that need to be addressed, I’m your guy.”
Dorian studied the man with a frown. He couldn’t quite decide if the joke was inappropriate enough to need a conversation or not. He was too tired to make any good judgment calls right now, and it was obvious the man was only teasing. He sighed.
“It’s nice to meet you. I’m Dorian Kuramori. I appreciate you and your people showing up for us during this difficult transition. I know better than to hope there won’t be any bumps along the way, so if you need anything from me, please let me know.”
He tipped his head, his dual colored eyes narrowed slightly. “Are you okay? You look like you haven’t fed in a while.”
A flush overtook his cheeks, and he blinked rapidly. Kian seemed to notice his overstep, and while he looked abashed, he didn't exactly look remorseful.
“Sorry, am I not supposed to ask? I used to work as a paramedic. Occupational hazard, I guess.”
That actually made him feel a little better. Paramedics needed to ask those kinds of questions to do their job well. And he knew all about hard broken habits. His trip to Zephyr’s office this morning was proof of that.
“Most vampires are private about their feeding habits. I would suggest curbing that urge, as some would be highly offended if you asked outright like that. Especially if they didn’t know you.”
“I’ll work on it,” he promised, though there was an air of mischief that said he wouldn’t try that hard. Dorian felt like he might need to keep an eye on this one. Fae were known for causing trouble. Being half-fae likely didn’t rid him of that particular urge.
Like he felt the need to prove Dorian correct, Kian raised his eyebrows expectantly. “Well?”
He frowned. “Well, what?”
He gave him a significant look that went right over Dorian’s head. He really was too tired to deal with this right now.
“You never answered the question.”
CHAPTER FOUR
Kian could tell he was overstepping some boundaries right now, but the vampire looked ready to keel over. There was no way he was feeding regularly. And with the bags under his eyes, probably not sleeping enough either. The caretaker in him demanded he fix it. And he figured he’d already put the question out there and made things awkward. Might as well get an answer and see what he could do about it.
“I– Well– That is–” The poor man was obviously flustered, and his cheeks were pink with embarrassment. The few vampires he’d met were a lot more open than this one about feeding, but he also knew he was poking where he shouldn’t on his first day. He decided to give the man an out.
“Nevermind. Not my business. Though, medically speaking, I suggest you call your feeder. I’ll let you get back to your work. Let me know if you need more coffee or something.”
Retreating out of Dorian’s office, he headed back to his desk. He’d nearly cracked up when he first saw the exhausted vamp shuffling towards the breakroom. He looked dead tired, so Kian didn’t stop him when he walked past. He was going to say something on his way back, but Dorian had only had eyes for his coffee cup, and Kian was trying too hard not to laugh to interrupthim. The vampire looked at that mug like it held the key to his heart.
Chuckling to himself, he sat at his desk. His butt had barely touched the chair when the phone started ringing. Answering, he put on his best customer service voice.
“Spellbound Corps Medical Division, this is Kian speaking. How can I help you?”
“Kian, thank god. I need to be reassigned. This guy is a terror.”
“Who? What happened? Do you need me to come down there?” He spouted off questions while fishing his notebook out of his backpack. He kept the list of worker assignments in there so he knew who was doing what job. Morgan was supposed to be working with the marketing team.
“One of the marketing team guys. He’s a werewolf and so freaking annoying. He’s already asked me out twice, and I just got here twenty minutes ago!” he hissed, like he was trying to keep his voice low enough that he wasn’t overheard.
Kian wrinkled his nose. Working with obnoxious people like that sucked, but didn’t exactly warrant immediate action.
