Caged Between the Vampire & Demon Lords

'CLICK!'

The giant brown door of the conference room opened slightly and a pair of slender feet encased in white stilettos stepped out. After flipping her dark brown luscious hair that was tumbling to the front covering her eyes, her hands got busy grabbing a bunch of heavy files. She was wearing a white top with black stripes paired with a long black pencil skirt that went below her knees. Her hands looked soft and tender as if made of clay that had trouble carrying the files in her hands. She was fair-skinned with a pair of beautiful honey golden eyes and perfectly shaped eyebrows above. Her face was draped with a light tint of makeup. Her lips were dark red which fell apart as she sighed.

"That's a lot of work!"

Her face was beautiful no doubt, but was dominated with fatigue making it look pale. Her beautiful eyelids were dropping shut owing to weariness.

The girl turned around to click the door shut, and her honey-golden eyes fell on the empty seats of the conference room wherein she had her ass glued to one of those seats for the past three hours. She was the last one to leave the conference room at 2:20 AM.

After passing a sleepy, cold gaze at the conference room, she closed the door and strode over the cafeteria. As she was walking to the cafeteria, her head swung side by side to glance at the empty office cubicles. Her lips took a downturn and she thought, "Lucky people to leave early!"

Her eyes scanned the entire cafeteria that was brightly lit, but with no soul lingering around. After placing the files on the wooden table, she walked up to the coffee machine. Grabbing a white mug from the rack and placing it under the filter, she pressed the button. The pin-drop silence was broken by the sound of hot coffee pouring inside the coffee mug bringing a thin smile on her face.

She propped her elbows on the table, her sleepy eyes focusing on the smoky, aromatic coffee filling the mug. A fat finger came from the girl's back pushing the button off.

A dramatic, squeaky voice followed, "Veronica, how did you even attempt to kill your dear sleep by making coffee?!"

Veronica closed her eyes for a second and blew out a sigh of contempt. She knew who it was. It was her friend, Bridget working in the marketing department.

Both the girls were working at Perfumerza, one of the top perfume manufacturing companies in the world. While Bridget was a part of the marketing department, Veronica's work was far more complex than hers as she held the position of the financial analyst. Despite both of them working in different departments, what made them best of friends was their night shift work that would start from 6 P.M. and last till 1:30 A.M. in the morning.

Well, that was what the company policy stated. Those timings were merely numbers on paper. In reality, they had worked overtime where in some cases Veronica would leave office at 5 A.M.

Veronica didn't care to face her friend and started the coffee machine again. But there went Bridget pressing it off again. Veronica was done with those childish tricks. Her fingers digging inside her dark brown hair averted and formed fists slamming against the steel countertop. She turned her chair around and said sharply, "What's wrong with you, Bridget? I have got a lot to do! So, let me concentrate!!"

Bridget was a chubby little girl draped into formal clothing consisting of a peach coloured shirt messily tucked in a pair of dark grey trousers. Her dress code was formal, it was just that with every passing hour of working overtime all alone in the office did her well tucked formal clothing take the form of a messy one. Quite natural!

Bridget flipped her blonde hair off her shoulder and her black eyes got squinted. She scoffed, "Then concentrate on your work! You should be in the cubicle and not here!"

Veronica furiously turned her seat back to the coffee machine. Her finger pressed the button and she retorted, "I need some coffee to concentrate!"

She sounded angry, but deep down her voice sounded like that of a tired kitten. Bridget opted to quit her drama. She sat on the stool beside Veronica and said calmly, "Veronica, it's already 2:30 A.M. Our shift ended a long time ago, now it's time to pack our bags and walk out!"

Veronica grabbed the full coffee mug and rose from her stool. Walking past the empty table, she reached hers and said, "I am already running late, Bridget! You leave! I have got a lot to do!" She kept the coffee mug on the table and sat hurriedly. Her fingers rummaged through the bunch of files.

A sigh of satisfaction escaped her mouth as her eyes found the file she was searching for. She pulled out a blue-colored file and flipped it open.

Bridget rolled her eyes when she saw Veronica burying her mind over an endless stream of numbers that flew right to left, top to bottom! Being a financial analyst meant numbers all over. The number game was all that they had to play.

Bridget shook her head and averted her gaze from those boring numbers before they would make her unconscious. She settled her eyes on Veronica and pulled out a chair for herself to sit on.

Keeping her beautiful brown handbag on the table, she said in a convincing tone, "Believe me, Veronica, you are almost done! Don't push yourself this much for a job that hardly pays us pennies!"

Veronica's eyes got lifted from the file to see her blonde friend. Passing a dismissing nod, she dug her head again over those numbers pestering Bridget. Bridget's fingers ran over her forehead trying to find a way to pull her workaholic friend out of her work world.

She observed Veronica for a few seconds. She groaned in her mind, "Gosh! Those plump lips are not made to rot those numbers, but to kiss boys!"

She bit her thumbnail as she dived a bit deeper in her thought bubble, "I am damn sure, not only her lips, but her body is pure too!"

She tilted her head to the left, her eyes engrossed in Veronica as she said, pitying, "How come she is single all this while? I mean she is already 24 and yet had no boy holding her hand, having a boy in bed is a far distant possibility!"

Veronica grabbed the mug and brought it closer to her mouth. Having a sip, she kept the mug back on the table and continued with her work.

Bridget poured a question out of the blue, "Do you read romance novels, darling?" Veronica lifted her face and passed a perplexed look to her friend before mouthing, "WHAT?!"

Bridget thought her question was a general one and she decided to narrow it down for Veronica. She said, "I am not talking about those wet love stories, but the ones where the girl and boy just keep on waiting for their true love to arrive!" She made that long statement in a single breath with her expressions changing from a naughty smile to a disgusting look as she reached the end of the sentence.

"I need to work!" Treating Bridget with an angry look and curt words, Veronica got back to work.

Bridget drew in a sharp breath as she thought, "I thought this girl might be following those stupid romance novels idea and preserving her purity! But it's worse than that! Neither does this girl know R of romance or B of boys! She is leading a pathetic, robotic life!"

Bridget averted her hands from the table and started moving them like a robot as she said in her mind, "I am Veronica Cooper, a specially programmed robot of Perfumerza Company. I eat, drink, sleep and even breathe for this company!"

Veronica was not used to Bridget's silence. Bridget was a chatterbox whose battery never ran out of power. Apart from her silence, Bridget's strange movements were captured by Veronica from the corner of her eye. She raised her head and said, "Bridget, you don't have to wait for me! You can leave!"

Bridget quit her absurd, robotic moves and said dramatically, "What did you say? Leave you?" She took a pause. Veronica nodded.

Bridget continued, her voice growing sharper, "In case you are so engrossed in your work, let me remind you, no one is there in the office at 3 A.M. right now!" She emphasized, her hands catching her words and doing gestures, "It's just two of us, Veronica! How can I let you go alone to your home?"

Veronica took another sip of the coffee. The warmth was fading away, in contrast the level of the coffee in the mug, barely dropped down to half. After gutting down a few sips, she said, "It may take an hour or two. So, you can leave Bridget, don't wait up!"

Bridget's mouth hung open on hearing the time. She frowned, "I wish I could, but you see there's no one in the office that could accompany you home and you don't even have a boyfriend whom you can call and have a romantic drive to home, huh!"

Veronica's hand clenched the pencil hard. She struck the pencil on a table with a force that had the coffee inside the mug shaking and snapped in, "We are not having that boyfriend discussion again! Leave me alone!"

Veronica yelped in her mind, "Why can't she understand I can't have a boyfriend even if I wish to? Even if I have one, I fear that my life will eat him away! My fate forgot or deliberately didn't insert LOVE in my life! I can be definitely called as a cursed one who is bound to stay alone!"

Unlike simply passing a dismissing look to Bridget at her remarks before digging her eyes back on her work, Veronica waited for Bridget to leave. Bridget slapped the table and rose up almost knocking the coffee mug down.

"I am not leaving until I know what the heck is keeping you away from having a boyfriend! You can't run away from the topic. You behave as if it's the biggest sin of your life to have one!"

She took a pause before catching up her breath.

"You rejected the I.T. Department guy, Tim, who had asked you out and so happened with Mia!"

Veronica cut in sharply, "I am straight!"

Bridget raised her voice, "Noted! Then why did you reject Tim?!" Her hand went to her heart and she said, her voice breaking as if she would cry anytime when she said, "And how could you reject that cute boy from the HR Department? He worked so hard for you. He used to ask me literally everything that you like, dislike, till the point I was pissed off!"

Bridget's eyes reflected pure sadness and sorrow for the people that Veronica actually turned down, especially the last one. She regained her furious tone and demanded, "So, Veronica Cooper, why don't you get a boyfriend for yourself?!"

Veronica's clenched fists got loose. Unlike slapping the table and showing no mercy to the coffee that was dying down, Veronica rested her hands on the table. Her eyes flickered a mix of emotions that was indescribable.

She blew out a sigh and whined like a helpless kitten, "My life cannot afford a boyfriend!" Her tone filled with gloominess washed Bridget's anger away. Bridget stood there, her head low and eyes gazing at Veronica sympathetically.

Veronica grew teary as she said, "Why don't you understand? I can't have a boyfriend!" Before her tears would spill out, Veronica grabbed all of her files and rose from her seat.

Bridget's heart sank on seeing the pain in Veronica's eyes and her tone. She could clearly see through her at that moment. Veronica wasn't gruesome towards relationships. She would like to try out once, but something wasn't permitting her, but what was that?! How could she manage to keep her inner 24-year-old away from such spicy things that are bound to happen even in a stone-hearted human's life?

Bridget didn't attempt to stop Veronica. Her eyes saw her retreating figure. All of sudden Veronica's moving feet stopped on hearing a dinge on her phone. Following the sound, Bridget's eyes slipped down on Veronica's phone lying on the table.

Veronica closed her eyes for a second and thought, frustrated, "It has to be Mrs. Cooper! With her back facing the table, she waited for a few more dinges because it was her mother's hobby to torment her with an endless stream of messages. But to Veronica's shock, there were no more dinges.

Her mind thought, "Wait, isn't it that..."

Her mind's voice faded when Bridget said, "Hey, you have got one message!"

She sharply turned around and started walking towards the table. Her exhausted, drooping eyelids were wide open. She was no longer sad, tired or angry, but worried; something visible from her face and hastily moving feet. Just one thought was running in her mind, "Oh no! It is him!"

Bridget picked the phone from the table. Before she could see who was messaging her that late, Veronica snatched her phone away sharply, shocking Bridget out of her wits.

Her eyes lingered over her phone screen. "I knew that it had to be him!" She thought as she passed an unfading glance at the screen that had a notification popped up!

1 message from +2359-

Without running her eyes all over the phone number, she said in her mind, sounding worried, "2359!" And yes, she was right! Her eyes did confirm those last four digits. Veronica went ahead to open the message. Seeing that number alone already gave her chills and that message shook her to the very core.

She read the message in her mind:

"Don't be sad! I know your life is tough, but everything will be fine! Trust me, I will fix everything up, mate!"

"MATE!" Veronica's breath hitched in her throat. She had been receiving random messages from this untraceable phone number for one week now. Those messages did shock her. She felt as if she was being observed and heard every single second; something that was clear from the short crisp message sent by this stranger.

Just like any other day of the week, Veronica spun her head around to see if this 2359 stranger was around, but the office was dead empty with just two of them in the cafeteria: Bridget and herself.

All those messages did scare her, but this one was like a bummer.

Veronica thought, "Wh... Why is he calling me his MATE?!"

"Mate!" Veronica felt uneasy after her eyes read that message.

She majorly was hit by the pang of shock shaking her to the very core, making the hair of her neck stand upright because of two reasons. First was the timing of the message. Veronica had been receiving messages for a week now. But all the messages until the current one were sent in broad daylight. Second thing that got her boots quaking was the word MATE!

"Why is he messaging me, calling me his mate in the middle of the night?!" thought Veronica. Seeing an unflinching gaze passed at the phone screen with wide open eyes and lips parting away worried Bridget. She pressed Veronica's shoulder. Veronica's shoulder blades went a bit high on the sudden touch that drove her back to reality.

Bridget's eyebrows went high jutting together and two vertical lines emerged on her forehead. She asked, worried, "Veronica, is everything cool? Why are you growing sweaty?!" Bridget was quick to grab some tissues and pat Veronica's forehead to absorb the cold beads of sweat.

Veronica finally got the power to voice. She said, smiling intermittently, "Nothing!" Her voice was splintering as she said. Bridget averted the tissue once her forehead was clean and her eyes pointed at Veronica's phone, "If it's nothing then why did you panic on seeing the message?!"

She went to grab Veronica's phone and asked, "Who is messaging you this late?!" Veronica's eyes went widest out of the sudden action of her friend. She outstretched her hand, drifting the phone away from Bridget's reach. Bridget asked, perplexed, "What's wrong?!" Veronica heaved, "Nothing! I got to use the washroom!" With those words, Veronica turned on her heel and left Bridget hanging in the cafeteria along with her question.

The incessant clicking of her stilettos showed how anxious Veronica was that fueled her speed. Nobody could have made out that she was tired seeing her energetic slender feet. After quickly squeezing herself out of the cafeteria along with the bunch of the files, the first thing she did was walk back to her cubicle.

Veronica's cubicle was just like the other cubicles, the size of which was a smaller one, but its location was significant. It was the closest to the CEO's office. After placing the files on the mahogany table beside her open laptop, she came out and walked up to the washroom that was situated on the opposite side.

She took the passage of the ladies washroom and flung the washroom door open. She stepped inside, clicked the door shut and slapped her body against the closed door. Her lips fell apart and she started breathing heavily through her slightly open mouth. The washroom homed a dead silence that was broken by her audible breaths. Her eyes got distorted roaming in all the directions as the anxiety levels in her body went high.

She said anxiously, "He is watching each and every move of mine! Who is he?! Why is he behind me? Why is he calling me his mate?"

It wasn't that tough for Veronica to leave those questions hanging because they had remained unanswered for nearly a week now. The latest question that popped in her head was just not ready to leave her at ease as it had something new to it; a new word: MATE.

Veronica gulped down the rising bile in her throat before she tried to find the answer to the MATE question, "Werewolves, vampires, dragons have mates! Does that mean he is one of them and I... I am his human mate?!" She said to herself, her eyes digging deep in her reflection in the mirror transfixed on the wall opposite that held the basin counter.

Her other mind counterattacked the first one, "Mates?! They are mythical creatures! Real world is made of humans and these mythical creatures exist in the books!"

The thought provided by her mind's other half was satisfying. Veronica slapped her forehead and said, "I am thinking the impossible, all thanks to Bridget and her stupid werewolf tales!"

"He has to be a stalker playing around, that's it!" Registering that thought in her mind, she dropped her eyelids shut and stood there still trying to calm her body. Closing her eyes for a few seconds, she normalized her surging breathing rate.

She slowly opened her eyes to see her reflection in the square mirror.

She detached her petite body from the door once she was no longer feeling breathless. Gaping at her reflection, Veronica started walking towards the mirror. She stopped by the basin counter.

After passing a final glance at the phone, she pulled out a tissue. She kept the tissue flat over the counter at some distance away from the basin. Neatly laying the phone on the tissue paper with its screen facing down so that it would no longer bother her. She proceeded to wash her hands. After pumping some hand wash in her hands, she washed her hands in the lukewarm water of the running tap.

After washing her hands clean, she splashed some water on her face and pulled out some tissues pat drying her face.

She blew out a long sigh of ease. As she was crumbling the used tissue, she walked up to the dustbin. Tossing the tissue ball in the dustbin, she said, determined, "I can't just ignore the messages or that stalker this time! Got to do something!!"

As she was thinking hard to find a way to know who the stalker was, one thought crossed her mind. Her lips curled into a faint smile and she mouthed, "Lucy!"

She walked back to the basin counter and picked up her phone. Unlocking the screen, her fingertips pressed the search bar of the contact list and typed out a name, Lucy.

A contact got displayed that read:

Lucy I.T. Department

Lucy was one of the chief heads heading the I.T. Department of Perfumerza. Lucy and Veronica hardly had a proper conversation as their works were headed in the opposite directions, however after receiving the strange messages and her investigation in search of the stalker went futile, Veronica thought of taking Lucy's help.

Veronica was one of the renowned names in the office both among the ladies and gentlemen. While her beauty would set the men's heart racing, it burnt the ladies with envy. Veronica had received 5 messages so far, every bloody message shook her terribly, all thanks to the details mentioned in the message. Every message matched with what she was doing at that moment.

Those messages gave the scary signal that she was observed for 24 hours. But the question was who could that person be?

Bridget was the one to make her realize that she was an apple of eye for the guys at the office and that was what lit her mind, that the stalker could be someone from the office. It could either be the man whose proposals were turned down by her, or someone who was secretly admiring her.

Well, that was the purpose, Veronica approached Lucy. She was a bit worried as to how she could squeeze out CCTV Footages from the head of the I.T. Department whom she had hardly talked to. But after having a friendly conversation with Lucy, she decided to spill out the mysterious situation she was caught up in. Lucy was taken aback after hearing her and promised to help her in whichever way possible.

"Lucy told me she will get the CCTV yesterday when I come to the office, but she didn't. I think I should call her!"

Veronica bit her lips and closed her eyes in vexation. She opened her eyes and passed a glare at the screen as she said with her clenched teeth, "But how can I call her at 3 A.M?!"

Veronica kept the phone back on the counter and started walking back and forth thinking hard to pull herself out of the messy, mysterious situation. Her frantic feet were in sync with her hands.

Constantly fiddling her hands, she said incessantly, "What should I do? Should I call her or not? What should I do?" She stopped abruptly beside the basin. Turning herself to the mirror, she said, talking to her reflection, "Wait! Lucy didn't come to the office yesterday. What if she doesn't come to the office tomorrow?"

Veronica closed her agape mouth. Pressing her lips together and shaking her head, she said, "No, I can't wait for another day! I better call Lucy!"

After making a firm decision, she tucked her hair behind her ear lobe and then took her phone. Dialing Lucy, she kept the phone over her ear. Those buzzing rings were making her anxious. Stomping on the floor, she squeaked, "Lucy, please pick up the call!" Before she could complete the sentence the phone went unanswered.

Veronica dialled again and fortunately the phone was picked up in four rings. She could hear a sleepy hello from the other end.

"Hello."

Veronica licked her lips feeling guilty for breaking her sleep. She said shyly, "Hello, Lucy, Veronica this side."

"What happened? Is everything okay? You are calling me this early!" Lucy's sleepy voice slowly went from being sluggish to alert.

Veronica bobbed her head and said, "I am fine! I called you regarding the CCTV."

A short span of silence followed. Veronica was afraid that Lucy might be pissed off hearing the reason behind that early hour call.

Lucy replied after a brief second, "I am sorry, I did check the CCTV yesterday, but forgot to inform you, workload you know!!"

Veronica bobbed her head in dismay. Her lips took a downturn as she thought, "Yeah! Perfumerza is well-aware of ways to exploit the employees!!"

Veronica shrugged the work-related thoughts away and was all ears to what Lucy had to say.

Lucy said, "I did check the CCTV. Nothing suspicious was spotted in the office. Not only did I check this week's CCTV, but last week's CCTV too, but everything appears fine! I even checked the cameras installed outside our office floor and Sterling Building too, but everything looked normal."

Veronica's eyebrows hung high and her eyes were full of praise for the efforts that Lucy put in. She thought, "It had just been two days since I shared this with her. That was the first time we ever talked or else we didn't even exchange smiles and she did all of this for me!"

Veronica blew out a sigh and said, "Lucy, thank you so much for going an extra mile for me!"

Lucy replied sweetly, "No need to thank me, Veronica! We are colleagues after all! Anyway you called me this early! Is it that you got another message from that stalker?"

Veronica said, her tone growing gloomy, "Yes, I did!" Despite Lucy doing so much for her, Veronica preferred not to talk about what he texted her. She wasn't in the space to share those mate chats with Lucy or anyone including her best friend Bridget.

She decided to hang up. She said in an apologetic tone, "I am so sorry, Lucy for ruining your sleep! I think I should hang up! Sleep well!"

Before Veronica could hang up, she received Lucy's piercing voice. She said sharply, "Veronica, wait! I have got some news for you!"

Veronica's squinty eyes owing to another failure in the mission to find the stalker got wide. The hope of catching the stalker that just got smoldered, lit up again.

With eagerness coating her voice, she asked, "What news?"