"Now I'm sure you know why it is that I called you in today," Grigori said, straightening out a stack of forms and taking a sip from his coffee. Even that, too, I could see wasn't actually coffee but some kind of frothy purple fluid that gave a thick plume of what I hoped was steam. Either way I figured I shouldn't be breathing it in.

"I'm not sure... could I get a reminder?" I asked nervously, my hands clenched on the arm chair that I pulled myself into.

"It's about your little... episode yesterday," Grigori said, putting on a pair of half-moon reading glasses and reading over a report. The thought that this was about fighting the monster and that Grigori knew came to mind, and I felt all the blood rush from my face.

"Y-yesterday?" I asked.

"Yes, yesterday. It's not often that an employee faints on the job," Grigori put down the form. I felt myself relax a little bit, though this didn't mean I wasn't in trouble. "Now, you know our policies on sick days, and of course with witnesses to the episode we know that you weren't faking anything."

"No, of course," I said, swallowing a bit to steady my voice. "I don't know what came over me, my apologies. I felt fine that morning, and then it just sorta... happened." As I spoke, a small red imp came floating through the walls, its little bat wings flapping like a humming bird's. It glanced at me and at first paid no attention to the fact that I was staring right at it before it did a double-take at me. I looked back at Grigori quickly, though I'm sure I wasn't able to do so without drawing some suspicion.

"Yes, Kelly said you looked a little clammy," Grigori muttered. The imp dropped a rather fancy looking folder off on the table, then floated over to me. I did my best to look straight forward, making no sudden movements as the imp circled around me slowly.

"I-I'm sure it's nothing," I said, doing my best to keep a straight face as the imp poked and prodded at me, likely to try and get a reaction. "I'm sorry for suddenly taking the day off, I swear it won't happen again."

"Oh, no, I'm not worried about that, you have more than enough sick days banked." Grigori closed the folder and cradled his head in his fingers as he inspected me. I noticed his eyes flick in the direction of the imp as it scratched annoyingly against my hair, and they flashed red. The imp froze in place and flew back to Grigori's side. "However, I do need to remind you that we have a strict policy regarding how much notice we need before a sick day is taken. I understand health is important, but if the company is a body, then we are its organs, and a body needs its organs to stay healthy. Do I make myself clear?"

The analogy made me feel a little sick to the stomach, and not because of the mental image it drew up. "Cr-crystal, sir," I said, almost sounding military.

"That file's from the next circle up," the imp said, with a nasty, almost animal voice. "They're upping the quota for this next cycle."

Grigori didn't bat a single eye at this. "Good. Now, can I trust that you will be in good health for the near future?" Was this something I could even promise?

"That girl, there," The imp said with a snarl, "she's still got some o' that spark left in her. If ya squeeze a bit tighter on this one, I think you should be fine." Grigori made a wave motion with his right hand, but then casually and seamlessly moved to scratch his cheek instead. The imp nodded, stuck its tongue out at me with a rude gesture and disappeared through the wall once more.

"I think so," I said. "Is that everything? I should be getting back to work."

"Just one more thing," Grigori said. "The report for yesterday was still missed. I'm afraid I'm going to need to ask you to work overtime to get yesterdays work done today."

I felt my stomach sink, and a nagging feeling that this had something to do with that imp. Would something happen to me after regular hours today? What did it mean by "squeeze harder"?

"Of course, my apologies for the inconvenience," I said, standing up and giving a short bow before leaving the office. Once the door was closed behind me, I almost felt my legs buckle beneath me. What was going on here? I slowly made my back to my cubicle and ran my fingers through my hair.

"You made it!" Ping's voice came from my computer monitor, and there the faerie came from their hiding place. "I was so worried! I'm sorry you had to go through that, I had no idea the boss here was a daemon!"

"It's fine," I said with a tired voice. "It was just about the sick day I had to take."

"Good, good good good. I was worried it was about... well, I'm glad you're okay!" Ping said.

"Ping, I have a question for you," I started slowly, and the faerie sat up on my desk, nodding enthusiastically. "An imp flew in partway through and said a quota was being increased, and to 'squeeze tighter'. Do you know what they're doing to us?"

"Oh, is that it?" Ping asked. "I thought I told you! They're sucking out human souls!"