C2 CHAPTER 2

When Ten twenty rolled around Rita had just a handful of paperwork left and was making quick work of it when Marlene herself exited her office.

There were only a handful of reasons why Marlene would leave her office and for most of those she did not, she had her assistant do it. It was either she had a really big announcement, one the entire company was just receiving from the board and needed to be known ASAP or she was firing some unfortunate soul and wanted the whole floor to witness the degradation.

Marlene was pretty with brown hair peppered with grey and claimed to be in her forties. And by forties everyone took it to mean four hundreds. The woman was perpetually stuck in time, she had not changed a single bit in the three years since Rita had known her. Probably a potion she made out of babies or something.

Today, she was wearing a cream colored blouse and a nude pink skirt that looked so tight you would think she could not possibly be able to move. Pearls hung from her ears and neck seemingly taunting anyone who gazed at them to guess just how much they cost. Her hair was tied in a fiendishly tight bun and the cream stilettos she was wearing should have been classified as stilts.

Her assistant, Anthony might as well have been born her replica, he certainly acted like it. His hair was held in a very tight ponytail, a grim expression on his face.

“Everyone, may I have your attention please?” Her voice rang clear with as much authority and promise of something bad as an annoyed lycan. She was not asking. That please was not fooling anyone.

Everyone dropped what they were doing and gave her all ears, pin drop silence following.

“It is with the deepest grief that the board give us the news of Mr. Deleze’s passing.”

Mr. Deleze, the CEO of the company was dead?

The silence persisted for a few seconds before mummers broke out. Rita caught some snips of conversation here and there.

“That can’t be, he was here two weeks ago–“

“He looked healthy to me.”

“What do you think happened to him?”

“Think someone got the drop on him?”

Marlene’s voice rung out. Cutting clean through the noise. “I am sure you all have questions, so do I. Mr Deleze was a good man. Kind and quite frankly my nieces would not be alive today if not for him. He held a special place in all our hearts. Mr. Deleze died in his sleep by two in the morning Saturday last week. The company will be in mourning for this week and the upper week after that the company’s fate will be decided. We may be getting a new number one or the board might just decide to sell. That is as of right now is not known yet. You can all go back to work now. Thank you.”

And just like that she dismissed them as easily as she called and retreated back into her office.

That was it, Mr Deleze was dead. The news was shocking. Everyone went back to their work, some trying to process what they had just heard, others not giving a dime.

Rita had met Mr Deleze a few times before. Sure he was old and practically looked like Saint Nicholas every day of the year with all the stark white hair he had but he was healthy and looked fit enough to carry a bus.

He was a keen eyed old man that fit in so perfectly in the background that you could hardly get the sixth sense feeling that your boss was watching you. Remarkable for a human. He was kindhearted and generous as seen on their holiday checks.

He instated a very well paid maternity and paternity leave. The minimum wage here was twenty dollars an hour for goodness sake. He made sure the complaints we had were fixed or presented with an alternative. He was the reason Marlene was less cruel with office work. Yes, everything she was doing right now was far less cruel and torturous than it was three years ago.

He actually cared about his employees even though he did not know them all. Now who knows what is going to happen to them. Even Marlene seems slightly worried. Rita doubted she would be sporting on that pearl set anytime soon. Mourning or not.

By lunch time the biggest talk was about Mr Deleze. The whole staff got the news around the same time and there were a jumble of emotions right now.

Some were just shocked, others were worried. Some were upset that they had lost a “golden” opportunity. If they had known he would kick the bucket this soon they would have worked a lot harder and gotten something out of him.

She could hardly eat the burger she had bought from the building’s canteen. She knew she needed to eat, thanks to the tasking work she had polished through that morning her reserves were low, but she could not bring herself to take anything more than a few bites. She just mostly drank the mixed fruit juice she had gotten along with her burger.

It was five thirty in the evening when she got done and for once neither Marlene or Anthony had any soul crushing work for her to take home Monday night. The floor was practically a ghost town except for three people and they were taking work home with them.

She carried her handbag making a beeline for the elevator. Marlene had left early like she always did, Anthony an hour after her. Again she refused to look at anyone of her coworkers. Neither one of them had had the guts to apologize for Friday and they were pretending like nothing happened.

That was the problem with working in an all supernatural unit, you became the official scapegoat for everything they did as a whole. To say it was unfair was an understatement.

It started small with Talia, the brunette Vampire that just loved to wear the tightest and skimpiest set of clothes to the office that she was practically a walking hoe advert.

She started picking on her when she was just an intern. The usual got the wrong coffee prank and making her do her work. When she actually got the job, the pranks became worse. Nothing she could not handle but more hands joined in. She still managed to do her work and very well enough that Anthony gave her passing compliment. That was as good as it was going to get.

Many of them did not like it. A newbie getting that kind of praise during the first two months. From then on it was practically sabotage. They would purposely do things they were not supposed to do and blame it on her. Marlene would follow the evidence and it would lead to her which resulted in her getting the bulk work they knew was coming and could not handle.

The last one had nearly gotten her fired. Marlene may have gotten the gist there and that was why everyone had gotten grueling tasks today. She could not think of anything better than just taking a bath and some good food, guaranteed she would have to make it herself but still. She had not even made it halfway when Talia appeared out of no where, blocking her path in the process.

Talia’s makeup screamed of what she had doing right before she decided to face her. For what? Rita did not know, but it definitely was not to apologize. She tried stepping to the side but Talia blocked that too. What could she possibly want now?