"A sun bomb?" Eve asked incredulously.
"It goes boom, and there is light," Lady Cassandra said, making grand gestures with her arms to illustrate the explosion. "And everything burns."
"That means war," Eve said coldly.
"War is between nations," Lady Cassandra corrected her. "This is a small group of people who have been badly hurt. They've all lost loved ones to vampire attacks, and they want to do something to feel less hollow, less broken."
"But my corporation is trying to stop the needless killing," Eve protested. "Can't they see? Synthetic blood eliminates the need for drinking human blood. It eliminates the killing. And our latest pomegranate flavor is to die for."
Lady Cassandra shrugged.
"It's not me you need to convince. To them, all they see is vampires. And your big corporation, with its big tower, is a big target. Easy to hit."
"And all my employees..."
"They will die. Minus the diversity hires."
"But you will tell me where these humans are, and I will stop them," Eve said coldly. She did not mean it as a question, but Lady Cassandra nodded anyway.
"I will tell you where they are, but you cannot send vampires to stop them. They have sun bombs and flash guns. Anyone you send, you send on a suicide mission."
"Unless I send something else, something other than vampires," Eve said.
"You don't have enough diversity hires," Lady Cassandra pointed out.
"No. But I can get allies."
***
Rex was waiting outside, kneeling in the exact spot where she'd left him, drawing quite a few stares from passers-by. He was going to ruin his trousers if he kept this up for long. Eve made a mental note not to tell him to sit from now on, unless there was an actual seat available.
He did not need to be told to stand up when he saw her come out of Lady Cassandra's mansion. Eve had half-hoped that she'd be able to leave him there. Then again, as her mind was racing to make a plan of attack against the humans, it occurred to her that a werewolf might be useful. Perhaps not this werewolf. At least he did not start wagging his tail when he saw her. But that was mostly because he'd managed to stay in full human form. It seemed that the trolls didn't intimidate him as much as she did. Perhaps he was not so dumb after all. Vampires were the most dangerous creatures out there, in spite of ogres and trolls being so much larger.
She did not deign to tell him to follow her, but she noticed he took his place two steps behind her. Close enough to jump in and help, should his help be needed, far enough to be out of the way. Perhaps he wasn't so dumb after all.
Eve turned away from the limo she'd arrived in, telling the driver that she needed to walk. The driver, one of her most loyal servants, knew what this meant: follow her at safe distance while she walked. The werewolf could have joined him in the car, of course, but perhaps he didn't know that. He followed her along the busy city streets.
Eve needed to think, and she did her best thinking while walking. Pacing up and down in her penthouse would have been undignified. But walking home from her appointment seemed perfectly reasonable, and the perfect excuse. She walked swiftly, her feet racing unconsciously as fast as her thoughts. Allies. She needed allies.
The humans themselves were out of the question. She did not trust them, or their police. Trolls were also weak to sunlight, and not too bright most of the time. Ogres were stubborn, and if they got it into their head that they didn't want to help, they didn't want to help. She could not afford to try and fail once, not without risking the humans would find out what she was up to.
Fairies were flighty, fickle things. They changed their minds too quickly about which side they were on. She could not risk contacting them either. Dryads were not natural city dwellers, and an army of them would have stood out. Even a small group would have looked unnatural in these surroundings of concrete and steel and glass. Unicorns were too haughty to approach if you weren't a maiden. Goblins charged too much for protection.
Finally, a thought came to her mind and she stopped. The limo pulled up gracefully beside her. The werewolf, however, uncharacteristically inattentive for a bodyguard, did not notice her stop fast enough. In his hurry to keep up with her, he forgot to stop, and bumped into her, his face sinking into her hair. He pulled back almost instantly, strands of glittering hair still clinging to his face, and sneezed. His wolf ears and tail instantly popped out again. He clearly wasn't used to keeping himself in full human form for too long.
Eve turned to the car and opened the car door by herself. She held no delusions about the werewolf knowing that it was his duty to open the door for her. She threw herself onto the leather seat and closed the door before he could get in. He could walk home.
The limo left with a screech of the tires on the pavement. Rex was left behind, shocked to see it drive away without him. Eve could see his bewildered face in the rearview mirror, but she didn't tell the driver to stop. And the driver, knowing her well, did not wait for her bodyguard.
The werewolf stared at the back of the limo, his face at first surprised, then plaintive, like a puppy left out in the rain. Then he began to run. Eve could see him trying to keep up with the speeding car. He was running through the traffic too, risking to get hit by another car any moment.
"Step on it," she told the driver. Perhaps, if they were far enough, the werewolf would realize it was pointless to run after her. Perhaps he'd take the bus.
***
Work in the Blood Lust Tower did not start this early on most nights. Not with the CEO sleeping until midnight. The employees were yawning and rubbing at their eyes and standing in line at the caffeinated synthetic blood machine when Eve arrived. Some stared in disbelief when they saw her up so early. Others were so flustered that they dropped their drinks when they bowed to greet her. Not the perfectly efficient employees she'd hoped for. And not ready for an attack on the tower, if one was coming.
She hurried to the upper floor that was designated for her office, and asked Isobel to arrange a meeting with all the top managers. Her people needed to be prepared if an attack could not be prevented. If her employees were so scared to see her walking through the main gates at nine in the evening, she could not imagine how they'd react to a real threat.
***
The meeting was over and the managers were filing out of her office when she heard a commotion downstairs. For a moment she thought it was the humans and their bomb. But when the elevator stopped at her floor and the doors opened in front of the terrified managers, what rolled out of it was a chestnut-brown giant furrball.
Rex had changed into full wolf form to run faster. It had not occurred to him the level of attention a werewolf in wolf form would attract in a building full of vampires. Also, he'd lost his security badge along with some of his clothes when transforming, and he'd only managed to get past the guard at the turnstiles through sheer luck and his incredible speed. The security guard was after him even now, panting up the stairs.
It did not help at all that the werewolf found himself in front of a whole mob of vampire managers, already expecting an attack on their corporation. Their first reaction was fear, then shock, then glee. One attacker only, and a mere unarmed werewolf. They were going to have fun tearing the little creature to shreds.
"Die, werewolf scum!" the communications manager yelled, leaping with his fangs bared.
Rex closed his eyes instinctively waiting for the hit. He heard the gust of wind as the vampire charged at superhuman speed, and heard a powerful bang that echoed through his corridor. But he didn't feel the hit. When he dared open his eyes, he saw that he was unharmed. The communications manager was lying in a pile of rubble to his right, below a large dent in the wall. And the CEO was standing menacingly in front of him.
"This is my new bodyguard," she was saying coldly. "As I have informed you at our meeting, we will be needing non-vampire assistance to face this threat. From now on, anyone who uses the words 'werewolf scum' will have to answer to HR for discriminatory behavior. The same goes for any other unhuman slurs. Have I made myself clear?"