Be Careful What You Wish For

Chapter 23

As soon as she woke up the next day, Cecilia started thinking about the best way to prepare for her new job. She realized from the interview that she had with Stanton, that her focus shouldn't be on the job itself. They didn't seem to care about that as much as she expected. The most important thing for them was to be the worst vampires they could be.

That fact didn't help Cecilia since she wasn't ready to slaughter innocent humans to prove herself, that was the line she wasn't willing to cross, not again. But what she realized after the interview, was that the vampires were confident, maybe even overconfident, and she needed to gain their trust by being as confident as they were. Also, she needed to make herself seem trustworthy.

She spent some time researching different methods to gain someone's trust. Those were small tips and tricks that humans used during their job interviews, but as desperate as she was, Cecilia decided to use every little thing she could.

She scoured the internet in search of any small details that could help her out, but she also read up a bit on vampire history hoping that would better prepare her for what was to come.

The problem was, that she didn't think she was emotionally ready to smile at, and flirt with the man who made her last few days living hell, and who took her life away from her. From all the things she had to do, spending time with him and pretending to like him would be the worst thing for her.

She had never, in her life or death done something as slimy and as disgusting as that, but she knew it had to be done. He saw women, vampires or not, as a means to an end. If she wanted her revenge, she had to pretend to at least play the game.

Upon finishing dressing up in a similar outfit she wore the previous day, and putting on her makeup, Cecilia took a few unnecessary breaths and went to work emitting confidence she didn't feel.

When she arrived at the office, she was walking tall with her shoulders back, making eye contact whenever she was forced to meet anyone new, which was often since it was her first day.

She did her best to keep her handshake firm but not crushing, and she made sure that she looked the person in the eyes for at least one second. Smile always followed the handshake because she read that it could do wonders to build trust.

When she was finally finished with the introductions, she was shown to her desk where she did her best to sit with open arms since it gave people more reason to trust her. Unlike crossed arms, open arms were perceived as more inviting and approachable.

Another thing she tried to keep in mind was to hold her hands in a comfortable, casual position and not to fidget. When her new coworkers, aka the monsters she was trying to put down, approached her desk, and started talking to her during the break she did her best to nod and show interest.

Also, she smiled when the vampires talked about good news and frowned when they talked about bad news. It was a much bigger challenge for her to stay empathetic and engaged than she expected it would be.

The reason for that was the fact that they kept talking about murdering humans, taking blood baths, and complaining about the rare occasions when a human managed to escape them by accident.

Not the regular office talk she expected, but she thought she handled it very well.

As for Stanton, for the first part of her shift, he kept asking her to do the most ridiculous and menial tasks. Her first duty was to bring him coffee, and after that, he asked for a glass of blood from his special refrigerator and so on.

It was humiliating for Cecilia, but she did all of her tasks without complaining hoping to get the chance to murder him.

What was even worse than the ridiculous tasks, were the looks he gave her every time he saw her. Those were the looks of pure lust, and they made her skin crawl even though she was dead. Even him imagining touching her made her sick to her stomach, and she tried to ignore the looks. It was increasingly difficult to do so since it felt as if she was covered in slimy, crawly things and there was nothing she could do about it.

He didn't say or do anything inappropriate, but even feeling those lustful glances made her question why she didn't just butcher him then and there. Why didn't she gouge his eyes out and stomp on them until they turned into squishy liquid under her feet?

But after a few seconds of satisfying thoughts of slaying him, like a beast he is, she remembered why she couldn't do it. It had to be sudden and completely unexpected, otherwise, she would fail. He was a highly experienced vampire who could take on one lowly newborn.

Experience and expertise were on his side, and she knew she shouldn't underestimate that. Although she had raw power and strength, that was not enough to defeat a vampire who has lived as long as Stanton has. He had enough time to hone his skills to perfection and it was obvious that she wouldn't be able to defeat him in a fair fight. That was why she wasn't planning on playing fair.

After all, what did he know about fair fights? He murdered innocent people even when he didn't have to, and they had no strength to defend themselves. That wasn't fair, was it? In Cecilia's mind, he deserved to die in an unfair fight for the sake of justice.

She needed them to trust her completely so that she could strike them suddenly when they least expected it. For her, it wasn't only about killing Stanton anymore, she wanted his whole clan dead. They were all monsters, after all, and she didn't mind becoming a cold-blooded killer if it meant getting rid of the filth that was Stanton and his clan.

The whole day she spent smiling and chatting with them and doing her job, but still, one part of her brain was trying to find an opportunity, to form a plan on how to destroy every single one of them.

When her working day was finally over and Stanton told her, with a creepy little smile, that she was free to go, the relief almost overwhelmed her.

However, it was shortly-lived since before she had the chance to leave, Stanton stopped her with a gesture of his hand, indicating she should enter his office.

"Great work today! It was a PLEASURE, seeing you work so diligently." He said in a suggestive voice that she despised.

Pretending she didn't notice his tone she smiled at the compliment.

"Thank you, sir. It's a pleasure to be here." She said.

Her voice was as professional as she could muster, hoping that would cool him down since she was scared of being alone with him when he was still being the disgusting creep.

It partially worked, since he did let her go, but not before taking her hand again and kissing it while looking her straight in the eyes.

"Well, I do hope you have sweet dreams tonight." He said in a voice he probably thought of as seductive, but to her, it was just bone-chilling.

When he finally let go of her hand, she ran out of there in a flash.

Once she arrived home, she immediately took a long shower scrubbing vigorously her whole body, especially the hand which was touched by the foul mouth of the beast. She scrubbed so hard that had she been alive, the skin would have bled.

Upon finishing her shower, she felt like she was able to wash away all the leering glances off her skin, but she was still not feeling like her old self. Not knowing what else to do to help herself feel better, she decided to take a long bubble bath.

Although she knew how ridiculous she would have found it when she was alive, a vampire taking a bubble bath, she needed something that made her happy. She needed to remember who she was, to get rid of the horrible feeling that plagued her whole day.

Without even knowing why she took her cellphone with her in the bathroom, and before she had time to think she was relaxing in the bath and calling Tobias.

Just hearing his voice helped her relax and feel better. Even his worry was soothing because it meant he cared. It was nice to hear someone genuinely nice who cared about her.

She spent almost an hour enjoying the warm bath and talking with Tobias. When she came out of the bath she felt more relaxed and back to her old self.