Lord and I sat in the back of The Lady’s limo, on the bench seat across from her own as she idly sat back watching over us, fingering a cigarette she kept unlit. We’d avoided talking, and The Lady had only spoken long enough to tell the driver to return to her business.

  This all felt wrong, and I had no idea what I was supposed to expect.

  To invite me out made some sense, I apparently was getting some sort of promotion, but inviting Lord out seemed a little weirder, all things considered. He was just a fucking cat as far as most people cared, and he wasn’t even really involved in any of the things I did or carried out the last couple weeks. I didn’t think anyone else could even talk to him, there wasn’t a reason to bring him anywhere.

  Lord seemed to catch onto it too, and he climbed into my lap as he said, are we in trouble? Are we getting into trouble? If she tries anything I’ll attack first, you go in for the-

  Lord did not have time to follow the thought through before The Lady appeared on the bench next to us, with him sat in her lap. He jumped up for a moment, and her hands worked through his hair as she said, “You’ll attack first…hm, I’m not sure that would…turn out for you.”

  I looked at her in surprise, choking on nothing as I realized what she’d done and I asked, “you can understand him?”

  “I can understand him,” she confirmed, nodding absently as she pet the cat, “it is a…talent, vampires might find. I find that…predators are easy to understand, when you listen carefully. You possess ears attuned for nature, don’t you?”

  I froze, not sure what to say before I forced myself to nod a few times and admit, “I can understand most animals, yeah. How did you?...’

  “How did I,” The Lady said, chuckling softly, even as Lord purred and leaned into his hand, “your mother, she possessed…similar abilities, you could say. I thought you might have them, and Lord Whiskerton’s reaction to you made me realize it was so.”

  “Wait, you knew-?” I started, before The Lady reached out, brushing a strand of hair away from my face.

  “I knew your mother,” The Lady confirmed, a cold stare burrowing into me as icy fingers rested on my cheek for a brief moment, “your father as well, once upon a time. You are very…bad at hiding from your past, and it was easy for me to place things together.”

  “What the fuck do you mean?” I asked, frowning as I looked The Lady over, “does my dad work for you? Do you fucking know him?”

  “Did your dad work for me,” The Lady muttered, clicking her tongue absently, “you could say he has an understanding with me, even following the normal rules for hunters in my territory aside. A little under twenty-one years ago he came to me, his… woman had just given birth. I knew both of them by reputation and personal incidents, and he needed a favor. He had a child born under…questionable circumstances, and needed documentation forged.”

  “What the fuck are you talking about?” I asked, wondering if I should have even admitted to any of this, “I was born in a hospital, my mom fucking died giving birth to me. She-”

  “Born in a hospital,” The Lady interrupted slowly, “that’s what he needed it to look like. He…removed competition of mine from this world, and I gave him the documents and files he needed. In return I…crafted records, a mother, everything he needed to get the rest of the documents. Jameson, not a common last name, and especially a Jameson your age, appearing years after a sudden disappearance and hasty funeral.”

  I furrowed my brow, looking down at the floor as I asked, “how long have you known?”

  The Lady nodded a few times, clicking her tongue as she slowly said, “How long indeed. I…exercise background checks on all my employees. It didn’t take long for me to learn my answers from the details provided. I will admit though it’s been an…extended period, since I spoke with either your parents. Your father followed the guidelines I set, and your mother wasn’t really heard from long after.”

  I nodded, and The Lady let the words sit even as the limo pulled to a stop outside of her building and we climbed out. She led me towards the door, Lord sitting across her shoulders as she did, and I stayed close behind them. We stepped into the elevator and The Lady pulled a plastic card from her pocket and a set of keys she held out to me.

  I took them, looking down at an Employee ID that had my name and the company name Karnstein and Karnstein on it, alongside a barcode at the bottom. The other was a ring of four keys, each of which were labeled with different colored bands at the top.

  “The red key is your office floor, black key my office, green key brings you to the…bunker, in this building through the elevator,” The Lady said, tapping for me to use the red key, “only use the green key for emergencies though, or upon invitation. When the bunker key is used I am alerted, and if the door is sealed it sends alerts to…allies, across the east coast, so it’s for rather dire situations.”

  I nodded, using the red key on the elevator’s keyhole, and as I turned it the doors closed with a low hiss. The elevator jolted as it started to move and I furrowed my brow as I looked down at the last key marked with a pink band and asked, “what does this key do?”

  “What does this key do,” The Lady said, smiling rather coldly as she answered, “perform well and you will…find out.”

  I nodded, adjusting myself on my spot even as Lord asked, can I sit on Mary? She’s warmer.

  The Lady nodded, pulling the cat off her shoulders before passing him over to me, where he clung loosely to my father’s jacket and wrapped around my own shoulders.

  The doors opened again into a room with a hallway branching off it and a woman sitting at a large desk. She looked younger, maybe around my age, and was typing away at her laptop as we walked toward to her.

  The Lady walked behind the desk, and the girl looked up with a smile even as the vampire leaned down to kiss her cheek. The girl giggled, and The Lady asked, “how comes along the novel, Allie?”

  “Fair, My Lady,” the woman answered, kissing The Lady’s knuckles as she rose to her feet and bowed both to us. “Is this the new employee? I wasn’t expecting to see her so soon. You made it sound like we’d have a bit more of a transition with Misha leaving.”

  “This is the new Employee,” The Lady said, reaching out and running a finger along the woman’s jaw, “Mary, Allie. Allie, Mary. There will still be…time, Mary is merely becoming aware of her duties today.”

  “Nice to meet you,” I said hesitantly, stepping forward and offering my hand, which the girl took with a small smile, “I’m still not sure what is going on.”

  “Not sure what is going on,” The Lady chuckled, shaking her head with a sigh, “You are being…promoted. As of next week you will carry out your former mentor’s former duties, doing so either with or without assistance. How much do you know of what he did for us?”

  “Not very much,” I admitted, furrowing my brow at the realization, “I thought you just told him where to go and we investigated it?”

  “Just told him where to go,” The Lady said, chuckling as she turned to the secretary again. She tapped two fingers against the woman’s neck, whispering, “I’ll see you…tonight, little morsel,” before gesturing for me to follow her.

  The secretary nodded, sitting back at her desk, and The Lady led us down the hallway where we came to two doors opposite each other. One was labeled Storage while the other had a nameplate that read Lyon. We turned to walk into the former, and were greeted with a room I hadn’t particularly expected to see in a business.

  There were a few filing cabinets, but other than that it looked more like the storage locker of a hoarder. Glass door cabinets stood full of trinkets, a few movie posters hung on walls, and a dozen display cases held weapons of various sorts. It looked weird, and I was surprised I’d never seen this room before as personal as it seemed.

  “Some of these items will be removed soon, others will stay,” The Lady said, suddenly sounding stiff in her speech as she pointed around to various objects, “that vase is…haunted, Misha’s mentor found it. That…sword has been on display for some years now, a gift from an ally. You may…use this room to your content though. Any supplies you feel unsafe having at home, items or files you need on hand, or…souvenirs, you wish to keep.”

  Yep, this is creepy, Lord said, and The Lady chuckled as she reached out to pet him.

  I nodded in agreement with the cat, more than a little confused as I looked around, not sure what exactly I was looking at. After a moment’s thought I asked, “is there a…I don’t even know, a guide to what’s here? I don’t want to fuck anything up.”

  “A guide to what’s here?” she asked, giving a small smile, “Allie will dig up the…ledger, for you, have Misha cross reference it before he leaves for his new assignment. That does bring me to Allie, she is…human, but well in the know. She spends her hours here paid well as a secretary to keep people away during business hours and give this floor legitimacy. She provides no…consistent service, but if you need information or services you may ask her, and she might be able to provide them without needing me. Contacts, crime labs, invitations, she knows who to…call, for such things on my behalf.”

  I nodded, and The Lady led me back out of the room and across the hall to the next office over, which she unlocked with her own key. She handed this one to me personally, marked with a yellow band, and I asked, “another key?”

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  “Another key,” she agreed, smiling as she explained, “locks and unlocks both these doors, and the only other one with normal access is me. The office has already been…cleaned and prepared.”

  The Lady went about opening the door, and I quickly added the key to the ring as I wondered how I was going to remember all their meanings.

  The office was large, with a heavy looking wooden desk in the center, two leather chairs in front of it, and behind the desk was a curvy chair made up of mostly padding and netting. There was a large window against one wall, overlooking the city, and against the opposite wall a large painting of the blue ridge mountains over a table with several paper trays there. On the back wall was an empty bookshelf and another painting, this one I recognized as the Chesapeake Bay by the bridge on it. In one corner of the room, which the desk half-faced, a TV was set up, and in its opposite corner a cat tree sat next to a filing cabinet.

  The Lady gestured for me to sit in the chair, and I was rather surprised at how comfortable it felt. Lord leapt off my shoulders and ran to the tree, which he climbed up happily to sit at the top of as he looked down over us letting out a maniacal laugh. The vampire smiled at his behavior, and closed the door behind us as she let the moment sit for us.

  “So, this is my office?” I asked, confused on why I had an office and what I was supposed to do with it.

  “This is your office,” she confirmed with a nod, slowly looking around, “the nameplate will be changed out by Monday. Here you will review…non-emergency events and decide for yourself what appears important.”

  I nodded, ready to let that all before I asked, “what does that mean?”

  The Lady smirked, walking over to the filing cabinet which she opened and pulled a folder out of. She slowly walked beside me, sitting the folder down and flipping it open, revealing several pictures and one-page memos within it. I took one of the pictures up, seeing something that looked like it was supposed to be Bigfoot in the distance, and I saw a tab name on the folder confirming the topic.

  “What does it mean,” she said, letting out a small sigh, “your filing cabinet contains approximately five hundred…topics, covering Virginia and the surrounding states, my territory. Every Monday the files are updated, with probably about two hundred items being added by Allie. You will be provided a listing of what has been added, with their files placed in the proper location, and…observe the evidence carefully. Choose to file it Fraud, Consideration, or Investigate.

  “I take it fraud means I don’t think it’s real, and Investigate means I should look into it?” I said, surprised this was being hoisted on me.

  “You should look into it,” the woman chuckled, reaching out to pat my head, “those marked Investigate here are done by my other agents, or tipped off to…concerned parties. If you feel a topic needs your personal attention, bring it up with me, but you only handle the worst of it. These are for…mysteries without an immediately violent nature, which can have a slow answer to them. If you are unsure of an item’s validity, put it under Consideration and it will be stamped and kept in Storage in the cabinet or next door, there are thousands of such things there.”

  “Okay, I can do that,” I said, nodding slowly even as I wondered how the fuck I was going to tell what was real or not. I didn’t know enough about the supernatural community to tell that, I didn’t even know where to start. The thoughts were racing, and I asked, “why are you giving me this job? There has to be someone who is better for this.”

  “Someone who is better for this,” The Lady said, nodding slowly, “most certainly, and I’ll need to…review your work the first few weeks. However, you are who I am choosing for this job. Any incidents of obvious violence will take priority and you will still investigate those, between such jobs you will…attend to the duties described here.” The Lady walked around to my side of the desk, pulling open the top drawer and removing an envelope and a gift wrapped rectangle. She handed me the envelope, and I opened it to reveal several cards as she explained, “updated identifications now that you are…old enough your real age may be used, and working such they need to handle more scrutiny. Additionally your…debit card, parking passes, the like.”

  “I have a bank account now?” I asked, surprised I wasn’t just getting the usual allowance.

  “You have a bank account now,” she confirmed, rolling her eyes, “two thousand a month, deposited bimonthly, not counting my continued contribution to your Covenant expenses. Taxes will be handled by my accountants, you are…paid more on paper, to justify your position and help with moving assets, so it’d do no good to have you try your hand at them. You additionally may be compensated for expenses taken on while working with me. Approximately…ten hours worth of sorting comes through each week, sometimes more or less, and I ask you to spend at least twenty hours each week in this office. How it is spent doesn’t matter, Misha’s mentor had the desk replaced with a bed for sleeping off…hangovers, before he was removed.”

  “So, all I need to do is that?” I said, clicking my tongue in thought, “that’s all? Nothing special or weird about this job?”

  “Your only other required duty is…investigation and containment,” The Lady listed, sitting on what was apparently now my desk as she glanced around the room, “as I did with Misha, I can offer…additional work for extra pay. You have work available I would not offer to Misha, though aren’t qualified in other areas. No matter, I would make sure you were duly compensated for anything…extra, you would be willing to take on.”

  “I’ll let you know if I want that,” I said, not really sure what exactly that sort of job would entail. It seemed strange, but I had a feeling it would still be something potentially worth the risk. “Why did you have me bring Lord? Why have the cat tree be set up here?”

  “Why have the cat tree set up here,” The Lady said, smirking over at Lord, “I was aware you two seemed close. I thought it was best to…provide a source of easy company. I know how lonely an office can feel. A litter box will be set up by Monday as well, I assure you.”

  I love you, you’re beautiful, you’re amazing, Lord said, and I was a bit shocked it wasn’t directed at me this time, can I get your number? Always wanted to date a vampire.

  “Can you get my Number?” The Lady said with a chuckle, before she half-said to me, “your…friend? Lord Whiskerton, he is as I remember him being with Annabelle, he has his mother’s disposition and humor. It’s good to see him get company he may converse with, he reminds me of myself… I should finish up here though, I do believe you have a birthday to get to. That is unless you…have any questions first?”

  I nodded, looking down at the desk as I said, “I…this is a lot, it’s nice, but…I was wondering, if you’d be willing to help me…you know… continue my education, I thinks the term? Sigyn, she mentioned you helped Annabelle, and I’m not ready for college, but-”

  “GED resources will be sent to you by the end of the week,” The Lady said, surprising me slightly by her quick response, “books and practice tests, you are not the first werewolf I have…helped this with. While not required for your position, academic knowledge can often be handy, so I will encourage it so long as it doesn’t restrict your work.”

  “Thank you,” I said, furrowing my brow. There was another thing, something I had never thought to ask her, but that was before she brought it up. She’d told me something I didn’t know, and so I looked up to the woman as I said, “my mother. You said you met her, you made it sound like she was still alive after I was born. I…anything you knew, it’d be great. I just…I want to know.”

  “Anything I knew,” The Lady said, seeming to consider it for a long moment before she finally said, “I won’t answer that question.”

  “Please, anything, I don’t know anything about her,” I begged, rising to my feet as I partly paced the floor, “I mean…you made it sound like she was a werewolf, right? My dad always told me her name was Susan, was that real at all? It’d be a start.”

  The Lady laughed, a full laugh that nearly bent her over as she rose to her own feet and walked over to me. She acted like I’d told the best joke, and shook her head as she leaned forward, her lips brushing my ear as she whispered, “I won’t taint this room with the whore’s name. I will tell you though that her name was not Susan. Your mother had no human name she cared for most to know, not for a very long time.”

  A shiver ran down my spine, and I knew exactly what she meant even as the woman thrust the wrapped rectangle against my chest. I took it, slowly fumbling with the paper as I maintained eye contact with the vampire, her words settling in.

  “Cellphone, pre-set up, passwords and important apps on the…stationary in your envelope,” The Lady said, taking a step back as she walked toward the door, “I additionally included a…decoration, for your desk. I always thought it was bad luck for one of my workers to not have any motivation to get them through the day, and I always make sure to provide penty.”

  I furrowed my brow, pulling off the last of the paper to reveal a phone box sitting on top of a picture frame. I sat the box aside on my desk, and I looked on at the picture in confusion for only a few seconds before my heart dropped.

  It was professionally done, a picture of a boy, only two years old, and a woman in her thirties. Gevaudan wore a yellow sundress patterned with flowers and vines and sat on a stool with the child in her lap. Martin wore a pair of jeans and a yellow shirt to match his aunts, his black hair around his ears looking freshly combed, with a pair of oval shaped kid’s glasses on. He was happy, laughing at the camera and half hugging his aunt as she held him in place and they sat in front of a painted mountain background.

  “Martin Jameson,” The Lady said to the air, shaking her head with a smile, “I thought it was strange the name of the baby was so specific when Chaser asked for my help, why specify a name for hiding a child, when the last name is to be quickly changed by the adoption? Then I wondered why it was the name of the only man to make me bleed in the last two hundred years, and I had an answer to what happened to a missing child before you ever showed.”

  “You’re threatening him?” I asked, the wold begging to come out and rip her to shreds as I looked down at the picture in my hands. It was the first time I’d seen him in years, and any happiness I might have had was eclipsed by fear.

  “Threatening him,” The Lady snorted, shaking her head in disbelief, “I wouldn’t kill a child for his mother’s…foolishness, Mary. I just merely wished to…remind you of his presence, and hope it encourages your work along. If it makes you feel better, the…cellular provides five hours of international calls a month before you need to pay, texts are covered. I’m not heartless, little morsel. Now, please let Allie know when you are ready to leave, she’ll order you a…cab, or whatever you call them again in this decade. My treat.”

  The Lady left with that, closing the door behind us as Lord and I were left standing alone in the office. My head swirled, and slowly I fell back once more into my office chair, looking at the picture in my lap in disbelief. Lord jumped beside me as well, and he looked down at the picture solemnly as I ran my fingers along the glass surface.

  Are you going to be okay, Mary? Lord asked with a bit of concern.

  I nodded, and let out a sigh as I told him, “eventually. I just…every time I feel like I’m everything’s going great for once…”

  It comes right back for you, Lord observed, resting his head against me, need a moment alone?

  “No,” I said, sitting the picture squarely on the corner of my desk, “I just…I want to take a minute before we go to the party.”

  We? Lord asked with some disbelief, what did I do to get invited?

  “Be a friend,” I told him, before adding on, “and I don’t think the cab driver would appreciate bringing you home alone, it’d look weird.”

  Maybe if they were hot.

  “Vergil does have a dog,” I offered, realizing Lord had never met Scruffy before, “golden retriever, kinda silly.”

  Well, I do love a good himbo, darling, Lord admitted, stretching out as he climbed onto my desk, sure Vergil won’t mind?

  “He’s not allowed to,” I told him, booping his nose, “it’s my party.”

  Lord nodded, and he laid flat across the wooden surface, remaining silent for several seconds as we stayed there. I looked down onto the picture of Martin, of Gevaudan, and shook my head in disbelief as I wondered what I could do.

  Eventually, lifting his head up, Lord broke the silence as he asked, what did The Lady mean when she said your mom didn’t have a human name? Everyone has a name, I have a fucking name.

  “No, not everyone,” I said, the next words stuck in my throat as I had to force myself to admit them, “Purists don’t.”