Resisting Him, Chasing Her

Copyright © 2021 Uzomah Chelsea .N.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author and publisher.

The moral rights of the author have been asserted.

All names, characters and events are fictional and have no relation with persons living or dead, any resemblance is purely coincidental.

All offenders are liable by law.

CHAPTER 1

The day went off to a great start, Rita had actually managed to get out of the house on time for one. That being because the noisy neighbors that lived directly above her had moved out last Friday. She would be lying if she said she did not enjoy their absence, the weekend had been complete peaceful bliss without their constant partying and arguing.

She had actually gone to sleep without earmuffs or having to call the landlord or the police. So off she was to her office, fully rested, fed and ready to start the Monday. She needed all the strength for the towers of paperwork Marlene would already have on her desk.

She tied her hair in a high ponytail, she had gotten the unruly locks braided last Friday, she had gone for the copper with a mix of white, her head felt heavy but she would get used to it.

She wore a white blouse with black pants and a pair of black flats with a handbag to match, perfect for walking since she left her car at the mechanics a few minutes ago. Her workplace was just around the corner anyway so she walked.

She had walked to her work before but today was different. She guessed the saying was right, if you keep moving fast you would miss the little details around you.

That was especially true if you lived the past three years with one goal that you did not take time off from like she did. Sometimes it was nice to stop and smell the roses, take in the sights. Alvas city was certainly one of those places to do that.

The city was beautiful, it was not just a concrete jungle like most cities. There was a lot of green around–parks excluded–from grasses to trees and even vines all side by side with buildings. It was kinda like those places you see in Tokyo.

The aim however was not only to combat air pollution but to help relieve the stress that came with being in a clustered environment. That is to say that the arrangement was made with some members of the supernatural community in mind.

That made sense especially since the city's population kept growing. Alvas was renowned for its green look and generous spaces, it was what made it a tourist destination and vacation spot. It brought in an influx of revenue.

The city was not just a recreational destination but a business destination. It was a buzz for startups, the place attracted some big names in business both legal and illegal.

Sure the criminals happened to be stronger and faster but that is where having supernatural on the police force can come in real handy.

The crime rate, considering supernaturals was at a low, one of the lowest in the country.

She was here for the buisness part. She had graduated from buisness school four years ago with high honours. She did not waste a minute looking for a good company to gain experience from. She had made a lot of choices then, she only regretted one.

Thanks to most of those early decisions, she now worked in one of the most notable companies in the world, Deleze Incorporated. One of the world's leading companies in renewable energies. The company also had its hands in medical technology advancement and agriculture.

She finally made it to the building, the seventy floor skyscraper standing tall and proud, the company name and logo plastered in silver at the top.

She looked down at her watch. It read thirty minutes past seven. She smiled just a tad. She made it with forty five minutes to spare, she usually got here with less than ten.

She walked up the concrete stairs, through the revolving glass doors and into the security checkpoint. The building had an intricate and heavy security system.

Cameras would take note of and identify all the people that went in and out, supernatural or not, capturing normal and thermal image. The checkpoint was mostly for employees or visitors to show their identification. They would also be scanned for weapons. It was manually manned by specially trained humans and shifters.

She had her ID pinned to her outfit every morning before she left for work. It held all her information, well not all her information just the basics. A standard photo of her, her name, gender, species, height and department. The rest would be in the company database.

When it got to her turn, she unpinned her ID and handed it over to the woman behind the counter. She knew all the women working at the checkpoint even when they rotated. They were familiar with her too, the checkpoint was more of a formality they could not compromise on.

Her ID information flashed on the screen just to her left. The picture was from last year, her hair had been in an afro then.

Name: Anozim Rita .B.

Gender: Female

Species: Human

Height: 5'9

Department: Financial

When she was deemed alright to proceed she went straight for the elevator. There were already two men inside when she got in and when it was apparent that no one else was coming the man on her right who was a good 6'4 pressed his floor number, sixteen, the editorial department.

According to the ID hanging off his neck, his name was Marcus, a Vampire. Of course that was apparent from the red hue in his eyes and the paleness of his skin.

His orange curly hair was really messed up, the sleeves of his shirt were rolled up past his elbows and there were splotches of coffee on it or was it blood.

He looked like he had had an all nighter for a week straight. Probably did. He actually had bangs under his eyes. And if he was going back up, it was not over yet.

He caught her looking and gave her a tired smile, she returned it with a small smile of her own.

The elevator dinged as it came to its first stop. As soon as the doors opened Marcus was out of there, literally a blur. The other gentleman had moved closer to the buttons and pressed his own floor button, nineteen, the development department.

His black hair was cropped short, quite close to his skull. His was wearing a royal blue suit and had a black briefcase in his left hand. She could not see his ID from where she was standing. She also could not tell if he was human or not.

The ride was too short to get any clues, the elevator made its second stop and the man went his way. She was left alone in the elevator as its doors shut after she pressed the button for her own floor. Her department was on the twenty seventh floor.

The elevator resumed its course, stopping to let more people in as it did. When her stop came she was all too relieved to get out of the stuffed lift.

She marched straight to her desk without so much as a word to anyone. After the stunt they pulled last Friday she did not even want to get started with anyone of them. As expected waiting on her desk was a tower of paperwork and a memo from Marlene to get it all done before one pm. Yay.

With a sigh she placed her handbag near at the foot of her desk and she sat down. She glanced at her watch again, it read seven forty five. She still had thirty minutes.

"Oh well, better get started." She said.

And so her day began in the most boring and unfair way possible. It was bound to happen when you worked under a ninety five percent grumpy all the time witch who could not hex you because it would get her fired.

By nine fifteen she had gone through half of the monstrous stack and was absolutely exhausted. The things these documents were saying were putting her brain up in tangles and the numbers were beginning to mess with her head. She needed caffeine before she made a mistake.

She stood up and headed for the coffee dispenser. It was incredible how it stood there, looking like a knight in shining armor come to wake her sleeping brain.

People were already there grabbing their third coffee of the day and it was not even close to ten thirty yet. Some of these guys looked like they had just run a mental marathon, worst part still they knew they were not done yet and sadly neither was she. Just goes to show Marlene knew how to show the love.

When her fellow employees saw her coming they averted their eyes away from her to anywhere else, even an empty cup. They knew what they did last week was wrong. The prank and unanimously pinning the blame on her as well. It was the reason that monstrosity called paperwork was sitting on her desk earlier this morning.

She took a cup from the stack and held it below the nozzle, watching as warm salvation streamed into her waiting cup. After taking the much she needed she added some milk and sugar, the smell of it was already waking her brain up. She took a sip and sighed in bliss. If only it was not temporary.

She walked back to her desk, liquid salvation in hand to finish off her punishment. Because that was what it was. Punishment.

When ten twenty rolled around she had just a handful of paperwork left and was making quick work of it when Marlene herself exited her office.

There were only a handful of reasons why Marlene would leave her office and for most of those she did not, she had her assistant do it. It was either she had a really big announcement, one the entire company was just receiving from the board and needed to be known ASAP or she was firing some unfortunate soul and wanted the whole floor to witness the degradation.

Marlene was pretty with brown hair peppered with grey and claimed to be in her forties. And by forties everyone took it to mean four hundreds. The woman was perpetually stuck in time, she had not changed a single bit in the three years since Rita had known her. Probably a potion she made out of babies or something.

Today she was wearing a cream colored blouse and a nude pink skirt that looked so tight you would think she could not possibly be able to move. Pearls hung from her ears and neck seemingly taunting anyone who gazed at them to guess just how much they cost. Her hair was tied in a fiendishly tight bun and the cream stilettos she was wearing should have been classified as stilts.

Her assistant, Anthony might as well have been born her replica, he certainly acted like it. His hair was held in a very tight ponytail, a grim expression on his face.

"Everyone may I have your attention please?" Her voice rang clear with as much authority and promise of something bad as an annoyed lycan. She was not asking, that please was not fooling anyone.

Everyone dropped what they were doing and gave her all ears, pindrop silence following.

"It is with the deepest grief that the board give us the news of Mr Deleze's passing."

Mr Deleze, the CEO of the company was dead?

Almost instantly mummery broke out, Rita caught some snips of conversation here and there.

"That can't be, he was here two weeks ago–"

"He looked healthy to me."

"What do you think happened to him?"

"Think someone got the drop on him?"

Marlene's voice rung out, cutting clean through the noise.

"I am sure you all have questions, so do I. Mr Deleze was a good man. Kind and quite frankly my nieces would not be alive today if not for him. He held a special place in all our hearts.

Mr Deleze died in his sleep by two in the morning saturday last week. The company will be in mourning for this week and the upper week after that the company's fate will be decided.

We may be getting a new number one or the board might just decide to sell. That is as of right now is not known yet. You can all go back to work now. Thank you."

And just like that she dismissed them as easily as she called and retreated back into her office.

That was it, Mr Deleze was dead. The news was shocking. Everyone went back to their work, some trying to process what they had just heard, others not giving a dime.

Rita had met Mr Deleze a few times before. Sure he was old and practically looked like Saint Nicholas every day of the year with all the stark white hair he had but he was healthy and looked fit enough to carry a bus.

He was a keen eyed old man that fit in so perfectly in the background that you could hardly get the sixth sense feeling that your boss was watching you. Remarkable for a human. He was kind hearted and generous as seen on their holiday checks.

He instated a very well payed maternity and paternity leave, the minimum wage here was twenty dollars an hour for goodness sake. He made sure the complaints we had were fixed or presented with an alternative. He was the reason Marlene was less cruel with office work. Yes everything she was doing right now was far less cruel and torturous than it was three years ago.

He actually cared about his employees even though he did not know them all. Now who knows what is going to happen to them. Even Marlene seems slightly worried. Rita doubted she would be sporting on that pearl set anytime soon, mourning or not.

*********

By lunch time the biggest talk was about Mr Deleze. The whole staff got the news around the same time and there were a jumble of emotions right now.

Some were just shocked, others were worried. Some were upset that they had lost a golden opportunity, if they had known he would kick the bucket this soon they would have worked a lot harder and gotten something out of him.

She could hardly eat the burger she had bought from the building's canteen. She knew she needed to eat, thanks to the tasking work she had polished through that morning her reserves were low but she could not bring herself to take anything more than a few bites. She just mostly drank the mixed fruit juice, she had gotten along with her burger.

It was five thirty in the evening when she got done and for once neither Marlene or Anthony had any soul crushing work for her to take home Monday night. The floor was practically a ghost town except for three people and they were taking work home with them.

She carried her handbag making a beeline for the elevator. Marlene had left early like she always did, Anthony an hour after her.

Again she refused to look at anyone of her coworkers. Neither one of them had had the guts to apologize for Friday and they were pretending like nothing happened.

That was the problem with working in an all supernatural unit, you became the official scapegoat for everything they did as a whole. To say it was unfair was an understatement.

It started small with Talia, the brunette Vampire that just loved to wear the tightest and skimpiest set of clothes to the office that she was practically a walking hoe advert.

She started picking on her when she was just an intern. The usual got the wrong coffee prank and making her do her work. When she actually got the job, the pranks became worse. Nothing she could not handle but more hands joined in. She still managed to do her work and very well enough that Anthony gave her passing compliment. That was as good as it was going to get.

Many of them did not like it, a newbie getting that kind of praise during the first two months. From then on it was practically sabotage. They would purposely do things they were not supposed to do and blame it on her. Marlene would follow the evidence and it would lead to her which resulted in her getting the bulk work they knew was coming and could not handle.

The last one had nearly gotten her fired, Marlene may have gotten the gist there and that was why everyone had gotten grueling tasks today. She could not think of anything better than just taking a bath and some good food, guaranteed she would have to make it herself but still. She had not even made it halfway when Talia appeared out of no where, blocking her path in the process.

Her makeup screamed of what she had been doing before she decided to face her. For what? Rita did not know but it definitely was not to apologize. She tried stepping to the side but Talia blocked that too. What could she possibly want now?

Rita kept her face uninterested. "What do you want now Talia?"

The vampiress shifted her weight from her right leg to her left. She was wearing a green blouse that left little to the imagination and a black pencil skirt. If the clothes were any tighter they would become a second skin, that was if it was not already. If that was the case then she was not wearing underwear or maybe she had lost it somewhere.

Talia came a little closer, playing the height intimidation card which was so childish because they were the same height and the only thing making that less apparent was the heels she was wearing.

"What's the rush, I just want us to have a little chat." Talia said a little too sweetly. She was up to something.

Still schooling her face to look uninterested Rita folded her arms.

"We had all afternoon to chat, why now?"

They had, unfortunately, been working together that afternoon. They had all the time to have any kind of conversation then.

The most sickeningly sweet tone escaped Talia's mouth that Rita thought she would empty the mostly liquid contents of her stomach.

"We were working and you seemed so focused on what you were doing, I didn't want to break it."

Ok, this was BS.

Rita was already getting pissed off. She needed to get her car before six fifteen or she would have to catch the bus and there was not enough cash in her purse for that.

"Since when do you care about my focus or chatting during office hours? You seem very fine with it when you're with the others."

"That's different, we–"

Talia was going to spew some sweet smelling garbage, but garbage was still garbage. She stopped her there.

"Look it's obvious you're not here for just a little chat and whatever it is won't be in the least bit good for me.

Quite frankly it will be useless, so why don't you just spit it out plain and simple, I have to hurry." Annoyance evident in her voice.

And just like that the facade fell off Talia's face. Her green eyes returned to their usual calculating bitch look, her face lost all the sweet icing it had been covered in and the true Talia was in front. A calculating hoe who was perpetually stuck in bitch mode.

Her left hand went to her hip and she leaned in. "I was just wondering why we all got such hard tasks today?"

That was what she asked but not what she meant. Her true words were written clearly in the air.

"If you wanted to know that you should have asked Marlene or better yet Anthony while they were still here or are you afraid of them?" She replied.

That earned a snarl from Talia, her fangs slightly flashing.

This would be a risky game right now if there Marlene had not gotten ultra high definition surveillance cameras installed on the floor after friday's unfortunateness plus a nice little spell that she personally put in place.

Talia would not touch her unless she wanted to get suspended or arrested.

Even so, it was still a risky game, she could still harm her outside the building.

"Now if that was all please get out of my way." Meaning to put an end to the conversation.

She walked past her, done with the conversation. But Talia did not seem to be done with it yet. In a matter of seconds she had her right arm in a death grip, pulling on it harshly to make them meet eye to eye.

A small hiss escaped both their lips, Talia's in anger and hers in pain.

She practically screamed as she added pressure to her arm. "You don't walk away from me you stupid human, who the hell do you think you are?

I just wanted to be nice for once and invite you out but hey guys what? You can forget about it and don't even think of ever fitting in in this department."

With those angry words Talia let her arm go with a shove that was intended to make her fall. Rita stood her ground and kept her balance, her arm hurt like a bitch, she hoped she did not let it show too much. With one final look, Talia was gone.

She turned to the elevator to find her there. The bitch was going to take the elevator and make her take the stairs.

"And one more thing, stay away from Theo he's mine." She said. A smirk plastered on her face as the elevator doors closed.

Once the elevator was on its way, Rita held her arm. It hurt a like a real bitch! There would be an ugly bruise there tomorrow. She glanced up at the office wall clock. Five Forty-five.

The bitch had kept her here for longer than than she wanted and now she would have to take the stairs. She would be lucky if she made it made it down before passing out.

'No use standing around here, better to get started.' She thought.

She made for the stairs, taking it two at a time. By the eighth flight she was glad she had chosen flats and by the twelfth she was cursing Talia.

Sure she had taken endurance classes but going down this many flights of stairs with an injured arm and an empty stomach was something else.

At the fourteenth, she was panting and holding onto the rails. She was not going to make it.

A door opened and someone stepped out. They must have seen her.

"Need some help?" A male voice asked.

She tensed instantly. She recognized that voice. Theo.

"Looks like you do." His voice came from right beside her. She whipped up so fast she might have broken her neck.

She stood up and faced him everything about her telling him to back off.

"No, don't need any. I'm good."

She was lying, they both knew it but she would rather have all ten of her fingers broken than take his help.

She had met him two years ago and her decision to stay away from him was one of the best things she had done. The guy for all his grey eyed, black haired beauty was a total creep. He was always watching her, asking personal questions and cornering her when they were alone.

And like his new girlfriend, he was a total manwhore. He had people throwing themselves at him and he happily took advantage of it.

He had done half the female employees and screwed around with some guys too. And it did not help that he was a Vampire.

She had caught him drinking from a woman and screwing her in the storage closet six months ago. That more than cemented her decision.

Ever since the supernatural community came out six years ago world governments after the intial shock were quick to put up new laws stating what they could and could not do.

There were a lot of things supernaturals could not do now. Drinking blood from the source was one of them. It was illegal and could land any Vamp, hybrid or witch in jail for a very long time and Theo was doing it with abandon.

The only reason she had not ratted him out was because the woman, more of a girl really–another crime–begged her not to and because she needed to forget that image since rolling her eyes in bleach was not an option.

Theo pestered her about it for over a week. Popping up everywhere and startling the pancakes out of her. One time quite literally. She noted stalking was not a very far off thing he could do.

She told him she would not tell if he stopped. She wished she did because he obviously went back to it and was more careful with hiding it.

He did not back off, just stood there calmly.

"You sure? I could carry you all the way down in less than a minute you know? It won't be a problem."

'It wouldn't be a problem if you were not such a slutty creep and your slutty girlfriend hadn't just nearly broken my arm.' she thought.

She sidestepped him and started her downward descent again, taking three at once this time. "I'm sure." She looked at her watch, five fifty. She definitely was not going to make it.

She still needed to get down and away from him. She turned her head to check where he was and sure enough he was still watching her. Standing as still as a beautiful cold Givenchy wearing statue. You know, if marble statues wore Givenchy.

She kept going, she needed space from him and he had said he could get down in less than a minute. She had managed to keep him at a distance for five months and as far as she knew he had stopped watching her. As far as she knew. She did not want him to go back to it and he seemed to be doing just that already.

She had not reached the sixteenth flight when she felt him put his arm at the back of her knees effectively taking her off the ground and carrying her. Her arms out of reflex went around his neck in a bid to keep herself from falling.

Against her warm dark brown skin, his pale white sand coloured skin was cold. Where hers pulsed with life his did not.

She started flailing. Last time he had her in this position he had tried kissing her and although she had been taking self defence classes for eight years and a half years she was not sure she could go up against a horny vamp again.

That last time proved it when she had slapped him hard enough to cause serious neck damage to a grown human man and he barely even flinched. Her hand got hurt instead, numb and then bruised.

She slammed her hands against his chest trying to get him to let go but he was not listening. She hardly thought anything she was doing was making even a microscopic dent.

"Put me down, I can go on by myself."

He did not put her down, if anything his grip got tighter.

"Stop moving would you. I don't think you'd want us to take a fall down from here." He said but she kept flailing. He did not seem to take notice because the next thing he said was.

"Hold on tight."

She had registered that last phrase a bit late and just like that they were off. The speed they were going at was insane, she automatically held on tighter and closed her eyes. Praying to any forces that would listen.

'please don't let me down, please don't let me die, please don't let me die.'

Her eyes remained closed even as his tone sounded so full of smirks.

"We're here, you can let go now."

And just as fast as it had happened it was over.

Her eyes snapped open and seeing how tightly she was holding onto him, she let go of him as if he had spontaneously caught fire.

"That was quick, umm thank you."

"You're welcome." He replied.

"Your turn to let me go now." She said. He was still carrying her bridal style and after everything that just happened in those nanoseconds she had more reason to dislike it.

"You sure?" He asked.

"Yes I'm sure." She answered. Still looking at him with suspicion.

"Alright then." He said, putting her feet to the floor.

She wobbled for a few minutes. Whiplash was serious. Theo held her and steadied her shoulders.

When she found her center of gravity he let her go.

Amusement was clear on his face.

"First time?"

"First time." She answered. "And last, because I'm not doing that again. How fast were we going?"

She did not catch the answer because her attention had focused on Talia. If looks could kill she would be dead. Although she vaguely heard the number fifty.