Page 18 of Petals and Fangs

“No. I am not that foolish. Lily has a copy of our policies that we hand out to our human collaborators. I just want her to get familiar with our company. That will make her avoid asking too many questions.”

“What did she say about it?”

“She was astonished at the cover page. She also mentioned that she would look at everything.”

“You can't put the whole business at risk because of her.”

“I won't, if there is anything I am doing, it is saving the company. Having a human on our team is a good thing. Haven't you seen the way she talks to you? She is a natural.”

“Maybe the members of the Board will not like that, Mr. Rothschild. She is a contractor here.”

“They can't do anything. I am the Board, Alfred. There is one thing I am worried about, though.”

“Which is, Mr. Rothschild?”

“She can’t know anything else. Lily is so smart, but she should not know what products this company is producing. She can't know that the products we are developing are not to save humans, but our kind. She can't know about us. That will be so wrong.”

“I will keep an eye on her. There is no need to overthink it,” Alfred says.

“I know. It was just the way she kept staring at me on the ride to her place. I knew she had questions. A lot of them,” I say, looking at Alfred.

“Make sure the purpose of your company stays a mystery. She will not know about it. We can't trust her,” Alfred says, suddenly teleporting to the other part of the room.

“What have I said about using your powers inside the building? Not only do we have the FDA after us, but we don’t need our ancestors warning us in our slumber every night to keep our kind a secret.”

“You are right, Mr. Rothschild. I might need to work on that, at least to keep Ms. Snow safe.”

“I am working on earning her trust.”

“Is she coming back tomorrow?”

“She mentioned that she will be working in your office tomorrow. I need to keep an eye on her. I feel as if I over-burned her today.”

“How is that?”

“She feels as though she is forced to be involved in the company’s business now.”

“She doesn’t have to. You still need to remain private about many things.”

“I know she doesn’t have to. But I see that as my strategy to keep her with me. She can’t go anywhere, even when the project is over. I can’t leave her again.”

“She is quite challenging. I believe you can build trust in her quite easily though.”

“It is not about trust, but more about her safety. I left her exactly one day before my eighteenth birthday to keep her safe. Before fully turning into a vampire. Now, I can't stay away from her, when vampires are roaming the city.”

“Speaking of that-” Alfred begins talking again, but I predict what’s on his mind before he voices the words out. That is my special skill: mind-reading.

“Are they a lot? The bloodthirsty ones?” I ask as I light another cigarette. I am not supposed to smoke, but I have the right drugs that allows me to do it without having to worry about my health.

The past month has been hectic. A group of vampires that call themselves ‘the rebels’ is roaming the city and feeding on humans. Killing them even. That defeats the purpose of my company and puts it at risk.

“I heard they are about a dozen, but they have killed quite a few people now. Horrible deaths. The CBS might be involved soon if they are not stopped.”

“Perhaps they don’t know about Rothschild Pharmaceuticals. We have the right drugs to calm down their hungry souls.”

“They do know about our company, but I don’t think they want to be involved with us,” Alfred says, fixing his posture.

“I don’t see a reason for that. We have our ways to keep them from attacking innocent humans.”

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