Changes

Rex left for work early in the evening. There was no point in staying at home to mope, and being around the house with Grandma Fidel made him fret about his arranged marriage.

He got off the bus a stop too soon, and walked in the dimming twilight through the busy city center. As he approached Blood Lust Tower, he felt something was wrong. The tower, usually brightly lit in neon light, was mostly dark. Only a few dots of light marked the windows that were lit, tiny patches of light on the dark gothic facade of the tower. Even the grand entrance on the ground floor was shrouded in darkness. When he got closer, he could see heavy blinds drawn over all of the windows on the ground floor.

The personnel-only entrance was thankfully not locked. At the turnstiles, Rex sought the reassuring face of the old vampire guard, hoping to find out what had happened. But instead of the usual guard, he saw a tall, burly ogre squeezed into a uniform that looked too small for him. Rex gave him an uncomfortable smile, and the guard snapped to attention. But instead of greeting him, or ignoring him, the way the old guard did, the ogre planted himself in front of Rex and asked for his ID card.

"Not vampire?" the ogre asked.

"No," Rex answered.

"Werewolf?" the ogre asked again, reading off the ID card.

"Yes," Rex answered.

"Working for Blood Lust Corporation?" the ogre asked incredulously.

"Yes," Rex insisted.

"Badge," the ogre asked, reaching a large hand for Rex's chest pocket.

Rex took out his badge and showed it to the guard. The ogre looked at it for a long minute, then turned it sideways and looked at it a little more. Finally, he sniffed it and sunk his teeth into it, like a merchant checking if a coin was really made of gold.

"Seems genuine," the ogre said, returning the badge dripping with drool. He scratched his head while Rex was wiping the badge on the corner of his coat. He stood there for another minute, blocking Rex's path. He seemed to be thinking, and Rex didn't dare disturb him.

"You can pass," the ogre finally said, stepping aside.

Rex didn't wait to be told twice, and ran to the elevator.

But the sight beyond the turnstiles was even stranger than the ogre guard. The corridor was dim, lit only by the faint light of the vending machine. And it was empty. As Rex passed by the door to the cafeteria, he noticed there was no line at the caffeinated synthetic blood machine. There seemed to be no one there. The corridors were silent, and only his own footsteps echoed where once their sound would have been drowned out by the humming of hushed chatter.

The CEO floor was lit, at least, but it was equally silent. When he walked into the CEO's office, Rex was startled to find it empty. He expected Eve to be still asleep in her penthouse, recovering after the night before. But even Isobel was missing. And Isobel was always there early. Rex felt his heart pounding in terror. He ran to the private elevator that went to Eve's apartment upstairs, but his keycard hadn't been cleared for it. The elevator came to the floor when called, but the doors stayed closed. When he swiped his keycard again, a red light flashed over the control panel and a loud beep was the only answer.

He tried his keycard again.

Beep!

He rattled the doors.

Beep!

He tried to kick the doors open with his foot, but the doors held.

Rex took a step back. His heart was beating hard enough that he thought it was going to burst out of his chest. He had to get to Eve. He had to make sure she was ok.

Beep!

Rex took one more step back and ran at the door, hitting it with his shoulder. The sudden pain brought tears to his eyes.

Beep!

The door hadn't budged. There wasn't even a dent in it. Rex tried again, and again and again.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

The sound was so loud that he didn't even hear the heavy thumping footsteps behind him. He launched himself at the elevator one more time. When he took a step back to try again, he felt the blow to the back of his head. Something sparkled in front of his eyes, he could not tell if it was stars or tears, and then the world went black.

***

Eve had gone to bed late in the morning, as usual. In spite of the dire situation she found herself in, she slept easily for the first night since she'd hired Rex as her bodyguard. Having the entire apartment to herself again felt so good. She closed her eyes in perfect silence, no sound of snoring coming from the next room tonight. And she slept peacefully until early evening.

And then there was the noise. Beeping and banging on the elevator door and heavy footsteps on the floor below and a thud. She heard a sort of muffled scream and jumped bolt upright.

Her first thought was that something must have happened to Rex. Her second thought was that the humans and their sun-bomb must have made it past security. She ran to the elevator in her nightgown, without even taking the time to put on her slippers.

The sight that met her on the CEO floor made her heave a sigh of relief. Her new ogre security guard had caught something, or someone. He was hunched over a bundle wrapped in ropes, tightening the last knot on it. Then her heart skipped a beat: the bundle had a wolf tail and wolf ears. It turned its head towards her, and the tail began wagging.

"Rex," she noticed.

The werewolf mumbled something, but the security guard had gagged him. Eve frowned, trying to remember the name of the security guard.

"Oswald," she said firmly. "Please untie my personal bodyguard."

She pointed at Rex to make sure that the guard understood. The ogre scratched his head.

"Where?" he asked.

"This," she said, stabbing her finger into the chestnut curls between the wolf ears. "This is my bodyguard."

"He tried to break the elevator," Oswald said, tightening the ropes further.

"For which he will receive a pay cut, if the item was damaged," Eve said coldly. "In the meantime, I need him untied, and in my office."

She did not wait for Oswald to question her orders again. Dealing with non-vampire employees had always given her headaches. Right now they were a necessary evil, but no less of a headache. She walked into her office and closed the door behind her.

Ten minutes later, while she was reading a report Isobel had emailed to her, there was a knock on the door. Oswald came in, carrying Rex over his shoulder, and dumped him in the middle of the office. The werewolf was untied, as she'd ordered, but still gagged.

"I'll be at the turnstiles if you need me, Ma'am," the ogre said. He looked uncertain what to do for a moment, then bowed and walked backwards out of the room. Rex was left lying in a pile on the floor, mumbling something unintelligible through the handkerchief tied over his mouth.