“About time you got here.” Geo grinned when I stepped off the elevator into the basement of the Crescent City Hotel. It was a basement, mind you, that wasn’t supposed to exist due to the fact that New Orleans was below sea-level.

I scowled at the college student wearing a muscle shirt. “I’ve put in enough hours this month to last a year.”

“Still, it’s almost noon.” He cocked his head toward where a large grandfather clock stood in the corner. It was a new addition to the offices of The Society—as was the security officer slash greeter near the elevators. Neither was a change I appreciated much. The former was loud; the latter was annoying.

“What’s your name again?” I deadpanned. Geo had only been working there for a few months. I’d pretty much grown up there, and I’d worked there since my sophomore year of college.

“You know my name.” He walked toward me. “And you want to know me better.”

I rolled my eyes. “No. I don’t want to know you better.” I stepped around him and headed down the dark hallway in which I could still see perfectly clear.

“You’re into me,” He called to my back.

“I don’t rob the cradle.”

“I’m only a few years younger than you. Might be worth the chance.” He was screaming, which was completely unnecessary. I could have heard him whisper.

“No. Not worth it.” My disinterest had nothing to do with his age. I reached my office and closed the door behind me. In the beginning I’d left the door open, but I learned that only invited interruptions.

I flipped through the pile of papers on my desk. There was one thing about The Society that had stayed old-school: paper. No matter how well designed online systems were, there were always opportunities for hacking. The king preferred to continue with the long held tradition of sharing confidential information via paper. Thankfully anything non-confidential could be shared online.

There was only one piece of paper that caught my attention. It was a handwritten note written out in penmanship I knew very well.

Come by when you get a chance.

-Allie

A note from my boss wasn’t one to ignore. I got up and walked down the hall, thankful her office was in the opposite direction from Geo. I was in no mood to deal with him any more than I had already.

I knocked softly on her door.

“Come in,” Allie called.

I opened the door and closed it firmly behind me.

“Hailey, hey! I wasn’t sure if you were coming in today.” She smiled brightly.

I stepped into her brightly lit office. She’d made up for the lack of sunlight by having recessed lighting installed nearly everywhere. “Tell that to Geo. He was giving me a hard time for being late.”

“He’s only giving you a hard time because he’s trying to get your attention.” Allie shut down the top of her laptop. “It has nothing to do with the time of day.”

“And I’m not interested.”

“I know.” Allie folded her hands on the desk in front of her. “The question is who you are interested in?”

“No one,” I answered immediately.

“And that’s precisely the problem.” She pushed some of her brown hair behind her ear.

“How is it a problem?” I took a seat in my usual spot in front of her desk. I always picked the one on the left even though it was further from the door.

“You’re holding yourself back from potential happiness.” She took a black cardigan from the back of her chair and put it on. If you didn’t already know Allie was human, that would have tipped you off. The supernatural—particularly the kind I was—never got cold.

I snickered. “Oh yeah?”

“Yes. You deserve to find someone.”

“Not all of us are going to find princes to sweep us off our feet.”

Her face fell, and for a moment I regretted my words. My best friend couldn’t help she’d become a paranormal princess—and now a Queen. I knew better than to back pedal though. Allie wouldn’t appreciate it.

“I deserved that.” She folded her hands in front of her on the table. “But don’t forget things with Levi didn’t exactly go swimmingly at first. We went through a lot.”

They had gone through tons, but that didn’t change that she was now happily married and a mom to two children to boot.

“I’m not interested in meeting anyone right now.” I was in my early twenties, that should have been enough. I couldn’t help that all of my friends seemed to couple off insanely early.

“I don’t mean marriage, Hailey. I mean date. When’s the last date you were on?”

“It’s been awhile.” It had been longer than I was ready to admit.

“I’m your best friend. It’s my job to worry about these things.”

“In other news, Sina is moving to Greece.” The all-important art of changing the conversation when things got uncomfortable was one I was well versed in.

“Moving there?” Allie raised an eyebrow. “Permanently?”

“She’s going for a year, so I consider that moving there.”

“Don’t worry about finding another roommate. You’re getting a raise.”

“Nope.” I shook my head. “No handouts.”

“It’s not a handout. You work more hours than nearly anyone.”

“Not more than you.”

“I’m the queen.” She blinked a few times, and I noticed just how tired she looked. Her usually bright green eyes seemed dulled. They also made me think of another set of green eyes I wanted to forget about.

“You do realize none of the queens before you spent this much time here.”

“And none of them had counsel.” She beamed at me. My position in The Society was a new one. “But I’m not them. And they worked just as hard, just in different ways.”

“I don’t need a raise.”

“You really want to go through a roommate search again?” Allie rolled her shoulder as if to get out a kink.

I shrugged. “There’s always someone looking for a place.”

“I know you’re insanely strong and everything, but what if you end up with a psycho one of these days?”

“Ok. I have a better idea. I’ll move out and crash in your guest room.”

Allie tried to play it off, but her eyes gave her away. “You are always welcome at our house.”

I laughed. “Would Levi say the same thing?”

“Of course he would,” she said a little bit too quickly.

"Ok I’m not moving in with you."

“Yeah, I know." She leaned back in her chair.

"But I appreciate your unwavering friendship." 

"Since you are here..."

"Ugh. Those words never lead to anything good." I was only pretending to mind. I liked staying busy.

"Could you go to a meeting in my place?"

"What kind of place?" Considering how exhausted Allie looked I wouldn’t say no even if it was Antarctica.

"Don't you want to know what the meeting is first?"

"Place is more important."

"It’s being held outside San Francisco. But the meeting does matter. It’s a conference on the Women’s Role in Supernatural Leadership."

"Why would you miss that? It's right up your alley." It was also her major platform as the queen.

"It's the same weekend as Georgina's 90^th birthday party. I can't miss the party. I purposely had them schedule the conference for the week after, but some sort of conflict arose so they moved the date last minute, and now I’m stuck."

"You mean I'd have to miss your mother-in-law’s birthday party?” I feigned disappointment. I was a fan of the royal matriarch but those kind of parties were far from my scene.

"I have a prepared speech I need you to give, but otherwise you just have to be there to represent The Society. The rest is up to you.”

"The rest us up to me? You know how dangerous that is for you to say?” I grinned.

"And you know how important these issues are to me. You'll be fine." She sat forward again. “I’m not expecting this to be ground breaking, just an opportunity for the groups to get together to discuss progress. You know as well as I do this is a formality more than anything. It’s going to take centuries to change things.” She sighed.

“That’s not true. You’ve made some inroads already, but you know my feeling on this.” I dropped my attempt to reassure her when I saw her frown. "Do I get the jet?"

"You don't want to fly yourself?"

"That's a long flight." She wasn't talking about flying my own plane. When I flew myself it was something else entirely. 

“I’ve never heard you complain about a long flight before.”

“All right. You’ve got me. I wanted to see how many perks I could get out of the deal.” And I wanted to lighten the mood. The job of queen was taking more of a toll on my friend than I’d realized. Hopefully Levi, the king, realized that too.

She laughed. “You’ll be staying in a mansion nicer than my house.”

“Ok, that’s a nice perk.” Allie’s house was huge and luxurious.

“You don’t actually mind going, do you?” She studied me in a way she never had before. She knew me better than almost anyone, yet we’d drifted apart over the past few years. I worked for her and saw her daily, but otherwise our lives were completely different from each other’s.

“Of course not. I can’t promise to stick to your prepared words though.”

Allie crossed her arms over her chest. “You’re saying the words on my behalf so you have to stick to those. If you want to speak later on as yourself, have at it.”

“Good. We agree on most of this stuff.”

“We agree on all of it. The difference is in how we express ourselves. Or rather how we are allowed to express ourselves.”

“You were born for this position, weren’t you?”

Allie laughed again, and some of my worry disappeared. She was tired but that was it. Underneath the exhaustion she was still incredibly happy. I was glad for her, but I wondered if I’d ever find that kind of happiness in my own life. “Not exactly. I love my position, but taking it cost me some freedoms I used to take for granted. Leaders can’t just say exactly what’s on their minds.”

“Some leaders may beg to differ.” I raised an eyebrow. We’d met our fair share over the years.

She shrugged. “I’m not some leaders. I’m Queen of The Society.”

It was my turn to laugh. “And to think there was a point in time you didn’t want this job.” When Allie first showed up in New Orleans she’d had no clue she’d end up as the queen of the largest and strongest supernatural governing body around.

“Things change.”

“They do.” So much had changed. “Send over the speech. I have to finish up some other things, and then I’ll head home and get ready.”

“I don’t know what I’d do without you, Hailey.”

“You’d find someone else to do your dirty work.” I laughed.

She shook her head. “But no one will talk back to me the way you do.”

“For once my inability to keep my mouth shut helps me.”

“And your positive attitude. Don’t forget that.”

“Very funny.” I slumped in my chair.

“You used to have one.”

“As you said, things change.”

“Have you talked to your brother?” She grazed her lip with her teeth.

“He’s not in a place where cell phones work.” Although to be fair I could have gotten in contact with him if I really wanted to. The problem was getting in contact with him would involve getting in contact with someone else.

“In other words, you are still avoiding someone.”

“I have a lot of work to do. You know my job.” I stood up. “Send over your speech so I can make sure I approve of it.”

“Approve of it?” She raised an eyebrow.

“Your speechwriters sometimes miss things.”

“You are welcome to join the team anytime.”

“Nah. Speech writing isn’t my thing. I’m more of a wing it kind of girl.”

“Some would say that’s a pun.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Very funny.”

“I envy you for them, you know.”

“My wings?” I touched the spot on my back that hid my greatest secret.

“Yes. No matter how good a job I do as queen, I’ll never have them.”

“I’ll never be human, so maybe we’re even.”

“You don’t want to be human.”

I shrugged. “It would make life simpler.”

“You mean like my life?” She spread her arms out. “I never knew you wanted simplicity. Usually you want the opposite.”

“I’m making a point. We all want what we can’t have.”

“True. Add sparkling intellect to your list of wonderful traits.”

“It’s already on the list.” I grinned. “See you around.” I headed out of her office and closed the door. Sometimes working for your best friend was convenient. If I worked for anyone else I would have already been fired.