I clicked send on the morning report, sighing as I stretched my arms above my head. Sitting at my desk, I gazed out the window at the floor beyond. Michael was at his own desk, concentration apparent by the deep furrow between his brows as he edited paperwork of all kinds, his trainee at the desk across from him. The rest of the floor was going about its usual business.
I stood, grabbing my mug and walking towards the breakroom. As I passed Michael’s desk, I paused, pretending to look at his work as I rested my free hand on his shoulder. My fingers gave him a triple tap, and he smiled. We had come up with the idea of using threes – three taps, three nudges, et cetera – at work to say the three words we couldn’t while there: I love you.
He looked up and whispered, “I was thinking the same thing.”
Blushing, I gave his shoulder a squeeze before I left – that was the closest thing to a hug we could get away with at work. Walking to the breakroom, I set the dirty mug in the sink and grabbed a clean one from the cupboard, filling it with coffee.
I poured without seeing. My body was here at work, but my mind was still back at Antun’s. My brain kept rolling around everything that we’d discussed, trying to make sense of it and getting nowhere.
We had gotten home the afternoon before, and I was grateful for the chance to clean up and rest before going to work. After we had all got some rest, we had congregated in the kitchen for breakfast. Antun ignored his toast, eventually clearing his throat.
“Before we all get going for the day, there’s some new information I need to tell you all.” He sighed, “Jones told me an interesting tidbit about all those more recent murders, something he hadn’t told me before. All but the body with the sigil were found with their heads internally decapitated and then burned. Just the heads burned, mind you, but still. It’s enough to know what’s going on.”
The reaction was immediate – Syla’s hand went to her mouth. “Shit,” breathed Michael, running a hand through his hair.
And I… I was so stunned that all I could do was state the obvious. “The murders have almost all been vampires? There’s a serial killer targeting our kind?”
Antun nodded. “I doubt the John Doe was a vampire, but the others surely must’ve been. I’m sure we’ll know more after the autopsies, but for now…” His voice trailed off.
“How many have there been?” I asked, my stomach sinking already.
He swallowed before answering. “Seven.”
“Fuck…” I breathed, feeling sick to my stomach at the thought of any murder, then remembering what I had done… No, stop that, Drew. Self-defense isn’t murder, and Nikola had to be stopped. I’ve killed, yes… but I’m not a murderer… I’m not. But then what am I?...
My face paled as my thoughts raced, trying to identify any kind of pattern that we hadn’t talked about yet, seeing if there was any possibility that we had missed something important. But my thoughts were like derby horses in a race, constantly jockeying for position at the forefront only to be overtaken by another thought as soon as one took root.
Someone bumped into me and I stopped pouring my coffee just in time to not spill over the top. Right, I’m at work now. I had to get my act together; this was not a place to lose it. But damn, did my heart hurt at the thought of those seventeen men and woman – vampires – who had been murdered and left to rot.
I grabbed my mug, carefully lifting it to my lips to sip the liquid that was perilously close to the rim. The coffee was only lukewarm, just a caffeine boost as opposed to anything for flavor, but it was a comfort flavor, as gross as this particular coffee was. I really had been spoiled by Antun’s coffee and the coffee I’d tried in Switzerland. I carried it back to my office, closing the door behind me and sitting down at my desk.
Approvals, checks, and generally making sure that the floor had what it needed – I worked as best I could given the thoughts rampaging through my head. After about an hour, a knock sounded on my door. I glanced up to catch Michael’s eye. “You look like you could use a break, manager. Do you want to walk and talk?”
I thought about it, and I didn’t really want to talk about it, but I knew that the thoughts in my head weren’t helping me with my work. And the break sounded nice. I nodded, “That sounds good, give me just a minute.”
“Alright, meet me in the stairwell when you’re done, okay?”
“The stairwell?” I asked, but he had already closed the door. I watched him through the window of my office and saw him pass the elevators and go to the stairwell door. Why would he want to meet in the stairwell? Seems random. Then again…
I shook my head to clear my thoughts. That doesn’t matter so much. And it might be one of the most private places in the building anyway – nobody climbs the stairs all the way to this floor. Leaving my office, I tried to stroll as casually as possible to the stairwell door. Whether I looked natural or foolish, I didn’t know, so I tried to stroll quickly and casually.
Finally, I reached and opened the door, dropping the charade as I stepped inside. Michael grabbed my hand and walked me to a landing between floors. To my surprise, he pressed my back to the wall, his chest a huge wall in front of me.
I looked up at him, intending to ask what he was doing, when his lips met mine. Forget questions about the cases, what is he doing?! “Michael!” I gasped as he pulled back, then I whispered, “What the hell are you doing? We’re at work, what if somebody saw?”
“So what if somebody saw? If I want to kiss my girlfriend, then I’m going to kiss her.” And as if he needed to demonstrate, he kissed me again.
This time I melted into him, his arms wrapping around me and holding me up. Forget it, I need this, I thought to myself. As if he was reading my thoughts, he deepened the kiss, his hand diving into my hair to pull me closer.
Michael’s tongue traced along my lips and I opened for him. I moaned as his tongue twined with mine, the taste of him driving me insane. He broke the kiss, leaving me lightheaded and feeling fuzzy all over.
I tried to catch my breath as I gasped, “What was that for?”
He leaned down and kissed the tip of my nose. “Because I wanted to.” I looked up at him, my brow lifted skeptically and he chuckled. “Okay. It’s because it looked like you could use a distraction from your thoughts. Now you can think daydream about this instead.”
At the reminder of my previous thoughts, my mood immediately dipped. Right; dead vampires. Nope, no. Michael brought you in here so you’d stop thinking about them for a bit. Quit it, self! Let me enjoy this secret little rendezvous.
Michael tipped my chin up with a finger, “We’ll figure it out, let your brain take a break from thoughts of them for now.”
“Is it working for you?” I asked.
“A little, but I’ll take what I can,” he smirked. I smacked his arm and he laughed. “I’ll go back first, okay? Wait a minute before you come out.”
I nodded as I watched him go back up the stairs to the landing and though the door.
“Well, well,” a too-familiar female voice echoed through the stairwell as soon as the door latched shut.
I spun around, and Sarah was there, smiling worse than a cat who caught the canary.
She looked down at the phone in her hand. “That was quite the spectacle. So short but so much passion.” She turned the phone to face me and I gasped. She had taken a photo of Michael and I kissing. It wasn’t a perfect angle to see our faces, but there were enough clues to put together who could be in the photo.
I grabbed for the phone but she pulled it out of my reach, stepping back. “Nuh uh uh!” Her grin was absolutely wicked. “I think I’m going to hold on to this. Who knows who might want to know. Maybe HR would be interested to know that a floor manager is dating their floor’s QCE.”
I was completely at her mercy. She held all the cards, and she knew it. “What do you want, Sarah?”
“Hmm, what I really want is for you and Michael to break up. But I have a feeling this wouldn’t be enough for that.” She put the phone back into the pocket of her skirt. “So, this little picture will stay a secret as long as you all let me in on whatever the shit is that’s stirring up the city. And I don’t mean just keeping me in the loop. I know you guys just went to Europe over the weekend, and no one with our salaries is flying to Europe for only a weekend. You guys were following a lead of some kind, and I want in on the case.”
“Why? What makes it so important to you?” I asked, my nose curling at her. How did I never notice the slight canine smell around Sarah before? It made sense that I didn’t notice as a mortal, but I was a vampire now with all my senses enhanced. I should’ve noticed the stench before, but I must’ve dismissed it as regular dog smell from someone’s pet.
“That’s for me to know and you to, well, not,” she smirked. “Just know this: if you don’t want your little secret being found out by the big wigs upstairs, I will be part of your little secret investigation. I’m sure you can extrapolate what’ll happen next if you don’t let me in.”
All was silent in the stairwell, only the loud buzzing of fluorescent lights echoing like a beehive in the chamber. Finally, I grumbled, “Fine. There’s been an increase in serial murders and they are vampire-related.”
“What, one of you going on a rampage or something?” she teased.
I glared at her. “Or something. The killer is going after vampires.” Her teasing look dropped. “We haven’t figured out if it’s another vampire or what, but we’re following some leads.”
Sarah and I stood there, staring at each other. “You realize I meant more than just a snippet of information, right?” she quipped at me.
I groaned, muttering under my breath. “Fucking b… fine!” I exploded. “I’ll talk with the others about letting you in on the case. It’s not just up to me, you know.”
Sarah rolled her eyes. “Ugh, so diplomatic – fine, talk with your friends tonight. You will be telling me tomorrow about what you’ve decided though. If not, by…” she looked at the time on her phone, “this time tomorrow, I will be walking up to the bosses myself to give this information over.” She began turning when she said, “Oh, and you know you can’t tell anyone about this. Otherwise…” She held up the phone. Without saying anything else, she spun on her heel and walked down the stairs, back to her floor. Her footsteps echoed in the chamber, making me wonder how on earth she had snuck up on us in here.
I was shaking for all the pent-up fury that wanted to get out. I cursed under my breath before walking up the stairs to my floor. I walked straight to my office, closing the door and then shutting the blinds. I could feel the tears wanting to come but I was not going to let anyone see.
My mind was racing, thoughts tripping over each other incomprehensibly. I wrapped my arms around myself, willing myself to breathe. Sarah was watching us. How long was she there before she took the picture? God, why can’t she just take a hint and leave Michael alone?
Goosebumps crept everywhere and my anxiety rose. If she tells higher up that Michael and I are dating, I could possibly receive worse than a scolding. I could be fired. Michael will probably only get a slap on the wrist since he wasn’t the one in a leadership role here. I knew we had to be careful but fuck…
My one hand ran through my hair while the other grasped the back of my neck, squeezing at the tension there. Breathe. I’m not fired yet. All I have to do is let Sarah in on a supernatural investigation with the rest of us. Fuck me…
A quiet knock and then the door cracked open. “Drew?” Michael’s voice murmured. When he saw the look on my face, he came in and shut the door. “What’s going on? What happened?”
You know you can’t tell anyone about this. Otherwise… I had to come up with something.
“I saw someone in the stairwell, I thought they might’ve seen us.” I loathed lying to Michael, but I wouldn’t be the only one getting in trouble if discovered. It takes two as they say, and I was only one half of the equation. We could both lose our jobs over this. “Just feeling jittery I guess.”
Michael peered down as he held me, his head tilted to one side. “Are you sure that’s all? When you came back, you immediately closed your blinds. They’re always open. You’re not hurt or anything, right?” he asked, pulling me away and inspecting as if he’d find a new bruise.
“Michael, I’m fine, I promise. Just a little shaken up is all.”
Liar, liar, liar, rang through my head. Oh, I hope he’s not listening in on my thoughts right now…
It felt like an eternity of him holding me out at arms-length before he sighed, bringing me back into his arms and nodding. “Okay. If you say that’s all it is, then I trust you.”
Drew, you piece of shit… He trusts me and I’m lying to him… But I’m also protecting him… damn it, I don’t know what to do. So, I hugged him back once and pulled back, smoothing my clothes and hair.
“You know you can trust me too, right?” he whispered.
It felt like I was stabbing myself when I said, “I know.”
He nodded, his own eyes going to the floor. “Okay. I’ll see you at lunch?” I nodded, and he walked toward the door. As he opened it, he turned around, tapping wall by the door frame three times. I love you.
Another stab to my own heart, but I only said, “I was thinking the same thing.”
