Sophie sat at her desk completely confused. She couldn't stop thinking about what her strange boss had just done with her; she didn't understand if it was bad or good.
"Sophie, what happened? Why did you go to the big boss's office? Did he fire you?" Glorie asked her with all possible eagerness.
"Because I made a report wrong and he almost fired me. He also wanted to sanction me, but I begged him not to."
"You did what?" Glorie replied terrified.
"Well, I asked for mercy for myself. Now my economic situation is the worst; my salary is barely enough for me to survive. My mother's nursing home is very expensive and so are her medicines."
"No one has ever asked for the boss's mercy. He is a very demanding person; most come down from that floor to collect their things. You have been very lucky, Sophie."
"Do you believe that, Glorie?"
"I am more than sure."
Sophie felt strange at the words Glorie had just told her. The last thing she wanted was for a man like him to have pity on her, and much less for her coworkers to think she had some kind of privilege. So, determined, she rose from her desk again and went toward the elevator.
She was going to confront her obsessive boss.
Upon reaching the floor of his office, it was even darker than it had been when she went up. This time she felt true panic, and more so for having gone unannounced.
Not a hum could be heard. Valentin's secretary's office was one floor below his, so she was completely alone. She continued down the hallway prepared to knock, but the fear was greater than her intentions to speak with her boss and, terrified, she headed back toward the elevator.
Meanwhile, Valentin, like every vampire, had his life in nocturnal form. He slept for a few hours in his office, between six and seven hours, time enough in which no one interrupted him, for at night, along with his family, they lived the life of any legion of vampires: they fed and held meetings. Therefore, in the day Valentin was exhausted.
However, Sophie was exhaling a quite strong scent, one that was capable of pulling Valentin from his deep sleep. There was no need for a camera to realize that she was outside his office, and of course that she had run away.
In order not to make the story more terrifying, he approached the loudspeaker he had and spoke to her:
"What are you doing here, Miss Robinson?"
When she heard the voice coming from nowhere, she began to scream in terror. Sophie grabbed her head and began to jump while screaming; she had her eyes closed and squeezed tight. For Valentin, the scene was very funny. He left his office and stood in front of her.
"Sophie, do you not know about loudspeakers? Or security cameras?" Valentin said to her amused.
Sophie immediately opened her eyes and tried to steady her ragged breathing. After raising her head and looking at her boss, who was smiling amusedly, she immediately blushed.
"If you were watching me, why didn't you have me enter your office? What need was there to scare me this way?"
"I didn't mean to scare you. It is simply that you must first announce yourself. I only attend to staff from eight to ten in the morning; the rest of the day I am very busy. But it seems you are quite rebellious, right, Miss Robinson?"
"Sir, it's not about that. What happened is that I wanted to come speak with you," Sophie replied to him embarrassed.
"Speak about what?" Valentin was going crazy with fascination at the smell of fear she had. Controlling himself was costing him quite a bit, but she was completely forbidden to him.
"About my punishment. Well, if it's necessary, I accept the week of sanction; there is no problem," with her head bowed, she began to cross her fingers, hoping for clemency from her boss without the need for pleas.
"Sophie, do not worry, I am not going to sanction you. But if you continue doing this kind of impertinent things, I am very likely going to have to fire you."
"But sir..." she tried to refute what he was telling her, but the lights suddenly went out, leaving them in complete darkness.
Sophie began to scream again, but Valentin took her in his arms, trying to console her.
"Calm down, dear, nothing has happened; it's just the lights."
Upon brushing her skin, his instinct was playing a trick on him, but instead he took advantage of the situation and kissed her passionately in the darkness.
Sophie, incredulous at what was happening and without a single drop of light to see if it was true, let herself be carried away by the kiss and returned it. Their tongues were intertwined, their kisses were far too hot and passion was taking over the two of them. Valentin took her in his arms and lifted her; in an instant they were in his office. Although everything continued in the same darkness, she felt no fear. When this happened, Valentin's sanity made him come to his senses.
They kissed for a good amount of time: they were wet and passionate kisses. But as Sophie's fear began to fade, the scent that excited Valentin began to disappear.
He did not regret kissing her, but he knew that could bring him trouble. So, making use of his magical faculties, with a simple snap of his fingers he erased the weight of Sophie's memory and made the light return.
"What happened?" Sophie asked confused, looking at Valentin who was sitting at his desk as if nothing had happened.
"What happened with what, Miss Robinson? You came to speak with me and, well, here I am waiting for what you want to tell me."
Sophie remained looking at him as if she had lived through a waking nightmare. Again she began to tremble with fear and, without saying anything else, she fled.
"With your permission, Mr. Von Strudel. I have to go. I think there was a mistake here."
Valentin simply watched as she ran, sighed, and went back to his nap. He was enchanted by her; she was causing something in him that wouldn't even let him live in peace. But he had to control himself, and even more so because of what was about to come to the city. That was more important than making a human his own, much less if she was his employee.
