Eve was not going to let the police handle the matter of her mysterious parcel. She knew a death threat when she saw one. A wooden stake sent to a vampire in the mail was no joke. It didn't help that the package had no sender listed on it.
The police had been quite dismissive, more interested in the accident that had nearly killed her than in the sender of the package. She'd known it was a lost cause to call them, and yet she felt it was her duty to alert the authorities, just in case they wanted, for once, to do their job in defence of an unhuman.
Of course, she'd known they would latch onto the theory that it was a werewolf's doing. She'd known it the moment she saw the defenceless werewolf, probably a beta, looking at her all lost from the floor he'd landed on, stupidly wagging his tail. Of course the police would want to pick on him. But she had a feeling it wasn't werewolves. Not their style. Too subtle. Her bet was on the humans. And the police were not going to protect her against humans, that much she knew.
As soon as they were gone, she instructed Isobel to have them followed, and make sure to keep her informed of anything they'd find. And then she began her own investigation. Something like this was not to be left to underlings.
It was late in the morning when she finished her phone calls. Her usual sources had proven unhelpful, but she'd managed to get herself a rare evening appointment with Lady Cassandra, the famous medium. The human police did not believe in mediums, and Eve was not certain she believed either, but if there was any information to be had, Lady Cassandra would have it, whether by magical, spiritual, or more mundane means.
Eve was just about to retire for the day, get her beauty sleep in before her appointment, when Isobel called after her.
"What shall we do about the wolf?" she asked.
Eve considered the question.
"We can't let him deliver the mail," Isobel went on. "He's lethal."
And the boys in other departments would not go so easy on him as the girls down in the mailroom, Eve thought. Something had to be done, before the rumours about his alledged attempted murder would get all over the building.
"Call him here," she said. "I'll deal with this personally."
***
Rex's tail began wagging again the moment he heard the CEO wanted to see him. Stupid tail doing stupid things, of course. They were all going to assume he was happy about it. In truth, he was terrified. He didn't even have the courage to ask her again not to fire him. The stake, still lodged in the wall, as none of the vampire employees wanted to come near it and pull it out, reminded him that he was lucky she hadn't fired him on the spot.
"Mr. Fidel," she said coldly, when he was seated in front of her at her large, impressive mahogany desk.
Isobel had discreetly left the room, though his werewolf nose could detect her perfume - lilac with a touch of magnolia - coming from the other side of the door. He assumed she was eavesdropping ever so discreetly.
"Mr. Fidel, I'm afraid you cannot remain in the mailroom," the CEO was saying. "Your... talents... are far too... noticeable for you to remain there."
Rex felt his blood rushing to his cheeks. Never, not since his elder sisters had graduated high school and left him to the mercy of the bullies, had he had such admiration for anyone. The way she worded his dismissal was so careful, so elegant, so perfect. It was so good that he almost forgot he was being fired.
"But I stand by what I said," she went on. "We value inclusion here at Blood Lust. We must find a new position for you."
Rex's ears perked up. Any position would have been good. He was desperate. Perhaps he could be a janitor, on the lonely day shift. Anything.
"Would you say you are good at removing wooden stakes from walls?" she asked, her eyes narrowing. "Would you at least be willing to try?"
So a janitorial job it was. Rex jumped out of his seat.
"Yes, Ma'am!" he said, rushing to the door.
"Not right now," Eve called after him.
But it was too late. He'd already opened the door, knocked Isobel to the ground in his hurry on his way out to the corridor, and was pulling at the wooden stake. Eve ducked behind her desk, pretending to be picking up some papers from the bottom drawer. There was no need, though, as the wooden stake, once dislodged, merely flew a few feet down the corridor, narrowly missing both the door to the office and the terrified Isobel.
He returned to the CEO's office a little abashed, and sat down in the chair in front of her. Eve had regained her calm, seeing as the wooden stake was out of the way.
"I expect you to pick that thing up and get rid of it when you leave," she said. "Without hurting anyone with it, if at all possible."
"Am I still fired, then?" he asked. His tail wasn't wagging, for once, but his wolf ears were bent in the cutest, most pitiful way. That annoyed Eve even more.
"On the contrary," she said. "You have been promoted. You are now my personal bodyguard. We need someone around here who isn't terrified of wooden stakes. Though, of course, if I am in any way harmed, that would mean that you have failed your job, and that is reason enough to fire you from now, whether it's an accident or not."
Her cold smile said it clearly: she did not expect him to be able to hold the job for long. She had found a way to fire him without risking a discrimination lawsuit. And she was very pleased with herself for doing that. This was not a promotion, it was a trap.
Rex was aware of it. One wrong step was all it would take to lose his job, and he was so prone to wrong steps. And, on top of it all, he'd have to be around this ice cold CEO all the time. As her personal bodyguard, he assumed, he'd have to be around her not only in the office, but everywhere. He'd have to follow her around night and day, to make sure nothing happened to her. Night and day, he'd run the risk of tripping, or pushing something too hard, or otherwise causing an accident that would lose him his job. And yet his tail, that stupid thing with a mind of its own, started wagging again.