Chapter 3: The interview
1793 Words
Esmeralda
Three weeks had passed since the warning about the hunter and everyone had been on their best behavior since. Killings across the city had dramatically stopped, which irritated me because it proved we didn’t have to kill to survive.
I had a job interview this afternoon, and I was nervous as hell. I’d been let go from my last job as an assistant for a necromancer when my boss had grown concerned about my health when I had passed out for a second time on the job.
Necromancers weren’t feared all that much from vampires, they had no control over us, but the hunter we had been warned about was different, we knew he wasn’t just a necromancer, we didn’t know quite what he was only that he was dangerous because he was a vampire hunter with abilities we’d never come across before, a one of a kind necromancer vampire hunter I suppose.
I snapped out of my thoughts and pulled on black trousers and a white shirt. My curly hair was looking thin, greying and frizzy so I pulled it back into a low bun and left my House wearing only some soft eye shadow, mascara and lip balm. I wasn’t pretty enough or well enough to bother with much else.
I was running late and with only two minutes before my appointment time I rushed off the train, clutching my bag tightly against me I hurried down the crowded sidewalk to the other end of the street. Horns blared somewhere nearby. The smell of coffee, cigarette smoke, and rain-soaked pavement filled the air. Turning the corner I crashed into someone. We both crashed hard, a plastic cup flew from his hand, iced coffee exploding across the concrete.
“What the hell, lady? Watch what you’re doing!” He yelled.
A wereleopard.
I could smell it beneath scent of coffee and expensive cologne—wild animal and earth.
I gathered myself up from the floor and apologized profusely. “I’m so sorry, really sorry, here, take this.” I shoved a five dollar bill into his hand and hoped it would be enough to buy him another drink.
Wereanimals and even necromancers could smell and sense vampires and other supernaturals but because I was so weak and looked like a normal human and had no vampiric abilities, it was like my scent or aura or whatever was too weak to pick up on, so they thought I was just human.
That was probably the only reason I got my last job, necromancers hated us vampires as much as we hated them, probably didn’t like that we were the only kind of dead they couldn’t control.
I reached the building, it was a small building, an ordinary brick office squeezed between a dental clinic and a bookstore. Nothing about it screamed ‘powerful necromancer works here.’
I entered the building nervously. Th office smelled faintly of coffee, paper, and light perfume.
I walked on shaky legs towards the receptionist who sat behind the front desk typing casually on a computer. Wringing my hands nervously, I almost thought about running back out.
If the reception lady looked that badass then I could only imagine how scary my boss would be.
The receptionist looked to be in her mid-twenties with honey blonde hair flicked over to one side and almost ran down to her waist, her slim, perfect, tiny waist.
She had curves in all the right places and was toned, very nicely toned. I noticed her dark blue eyes and lightly tanned skin with one arm covered in a tattoo sleeve.
She wore that kind of makeup that makeup YouTubers call natural glam, and she looked incredibly beautiful for a human.
Damn me and my sweet tooth, as a human, I had enjoyed my food, and so I had too many curves in all the wrong places, if I were to drink human blood, my looks would be incredible, my weight from my human life would fall off too. I mentally rolled my eyes at my self-pitying and forced myself over to the lady.
“Umm…hello,” I said quietly. “I have an appointment with Mr Warlow for a job interview?”
I was so timid it sounded more like a question.
I hope she heard me, usually people asked me to repeat myself as I was very softly spoken, well, that was one of the kinder ways I’d been told.
“Oh right, yes, I see you on the screen. Take a seat miss Thornton, he will be with you shortly.”
My butt didn’t even touch the seat before I was called in.
I walked towards the door with shaky legs and with a nod from the receptionist, I opened it and went inside.
I almost fainted when I saw him, it literally felt like I had died and gone to heaven. Mr. Warlow was the most incredibly beautiful man I had ever seen, literally, I hadn’t even come across a vampire who made me feel this giddy and googly eyed.
He was dangerously beautiful.
Mr. Warlow sat behind his desk wearing dark blue jeans, black combat boots, and a fitted gray t-shirt that stretched tightly across broad shoulders. He definitely didn’t have a dress code like my old boss, and I was glad, so very glad as I took in his dark honey blonde and carelessly tousled hair, his chiseled jawline, and high cheekbones.
His lips were perfectly full, not too much and not too little, and he had a body to die for, his muscles rippled as he moved, and I noticed his arms both covered in tattoos.
It was amazing artwork, intricate patterns and symbols that appeared naturally on necromancers.
Nobody except necromancers knew why this happened, tattoos appeared on them from some kind of magic, and it seemed the tattoos reflected the necromancer and their personality in some way as well as their abilities.
I made out grave stones, zombies, crosses, and the more I noticed, the more afraid I became. I saw a stake among the art indicating he was a vampire hunter, not too uncommon although necromancers rarely chose to hunt us.
It was illegal to kill supernatural creatures unless they had committed a crime, so the law would have to get a court order to kill us if we were caught committing a heinous crime.
I didn’t know where Mr. Warlow fit into all of this, but the art work showed he was most definitely a vampire hunter. I also noticed he had ghostly apparitions along his arms too, I’d never seen that before, not that I’d met too many necromancers, I had no idea what it meant and didn’t get a chance to try and figure it out because he made eye contact and addressed me.
“Good morning, miss Thornton.”
All I could focus on was those incredibly beautiful eyes, they had that almond shape that models usually had, and they were an ice-piercing blue like a huskies eye color but with a ring of violet and flecks of gold through the blue.
When I realised he was staring back, I blushed hard and looking to the floor, barely whispered, “you can call me Esmeralda.”
He gave a nod and answered, “call me Lucan, then. So, Esmeralda, I’ve read your resume and if you’re happy with it I’d really like if you could start today.”
He was terrifying sitting there— cold empty expression, matching voice, unreadable eyes, broad tattooed arms folded loosely across his chest. But there was something else underneath the detached exterior.
Something watchful.
Something dangerous.
And stupidly enough, I was attracted to it.
Hearing my name on his lips had me soaking my underwear and making me blush with shame.
I had been a virgin as a human, and I was still a virgin two hundred years later, making me the laughing stock in our clan.
He lost some of the cool look in his eyes and frowned at me. “Are you ok?”
I realised I still hadn’t answered him and quickly answered, “Um, yes, yes, I can start right now.”
“Ok, good. For now, can you help Dana, she’s the receptionist. And later I need you to help me prepare for the zombie I need to raise tonight.”
I swallowed hard and nodded, and the interview was over.
I helped Dana with paperwork and welcoming clients in, but I didn’t answer the phone, I had a weird phobia about phone calls, I was a weird vampire.
I didn’t feel too hungry around humans, the weaker I became, the weaker the hunger seemed to be. Some days I wasn’t even sure I was a vampire anymore, and I’d release my fangs from where they retracted into my gums just to check.
Dana was actually a really awesome human, I liked her, she wasn’t rude like I had worried, she was down to earth and seemed to be one of those rare people who got me and my shy and awkward ways.
At lunch, Dana and Lucan ate, and I forced myself to nibble on an apple. Vampires didn’t need to eat, but we could if need be. Dana and Lucan bantered, and when it grew quiet, Lucan noticed me being silent.
He didn’t say anything like people usually did, actually he looked somewhat suspicious. He stared for a long time, making my face grow hot, I became more and more nervous, he couldn’t sense what I was could he?
Dana came to my rescue when she noticed him staring me out and punched his arm hard but playfully.
“Leave the shy girl alone d.ick.”
He frowned at her, but didn’t say anything. Dana was still smiling, but I noticed the warning in her eyes when she said, “Lucan, cut it out, come on, back to work.”
She kissed him on the cheek and went back to her desk, asking me to follow. I don’t know what had just happened, but clearly some unspoken conversation had gone on between them. I got up to follow when Lucan spoke.
“Esmeralda.”
I turned.
His gaze locked onto mine fully now.
Sharp. Cold. Intent.
“you are human…aren’t you?”
If I’d had any blood in my veins, it would have drained from my face. Fear shook me to my core, I’d never come across a necromancer who knew what I was before, not even a shape-shifter.
I laughed shyly and nodded my head yes.
Silence.
Lucan studied me for another long moment.
Then finally, slowly, he nodded once.
“Good.”
The single word chilled me more than if he’d threatened me outright.
- Writer
