A few more pebbles dropped to the floor from Alexandra's eyes. One of the trolls blew his nose into a large, blue handkerchief. The pixies burst into animated chatter. The elves were smiling. The orc girls were elbowing each other. The goblin coughed, looking unconvinced. But, at least, no one was trying to run away anymore, not even the human girl.

"We have received an offer of assistance from a goblin organization," Eve went on, trying to choose her words carefully. "They are offering us protection. We would be outsourcing our Security work to them, at an exorbitant price, for the foreseeable future."

Oswald frowned. Christopher, their only goblin, raised an eyebrow. Then he raised a hand.

"CEO," he said, when he was told to speak, "I think the offer is advantageous to the Security company, but not to us. It would be cheaper to deal with the threat immediately, rather than hire ongoing protection."

"And once the threat is dealt with, everyone can go back to working in the office again," one of the elves pointed out. He did not seem pleased.

"It is in the best interest of Blood Lust to have the threat eliminated quickly," Christopher insisted.

"Which is why I've called this meeting," Eve said. The sound of her voice was enough to silence everyone, even the elf who had spoken.

"Rene is right," she went on. "This would allow the vampires to return to the office. But I promise you we will not go back to the way things were. Your work is highly valued, and shall continue to remain valued."

"We are only valuable now," Christopher grumbled, "and most likely disposable."

Rene, the elf, was pouting.

"I will not fail you again," Eve repeated, this time with her head raised high.

"What about the humans?" someone at the back asked.

The human girl shifted uncomfortably in her chair.

"The police have been notified," Eve said. "They are working on the issue."

Several of the non-human employees rolled their eyes. Some even made audible remarks about what working on it meant. The human girl looked like she was about to burst into tears.

"Please," Eve said, with an imperiousness that made the plea sound like an order, "we will have no discrimination in this corporation. Not even against humans."

"You can't call it discrimination if it's against the priviledged," someone mumbled, but the room quieted down.

"The police won't be fast enough," Christopher said. "Alex, I'll give you some phone numbers to try. They have quite a few gargoyles in the force. They use them mostly for decoration, but I bet the gargoyles themselves would love to do a little investigative work on the side if you ask them the right way. I'll be checking online for info on the sun weapons."

"Who put you in charge?" Oswald asked, making a face that was meant to be intimidating even by ogre standards.

"I did," Eve answered. "Christopher is smart, and he knows he needs to put the interests of the company above any personal interests."

"The interests of the company are our personal interests," Christopher said. "We're not here because we've always wanted to manufacture synthetic blood. Blood Lust was the only company that would take us on when our own kind didn't want us. Our jobs depend upon the wellbeing of this company. And, in our situation, that means our lives depend upon it."

Oswald scratched his head. Others frowned.

"He's right," the human girl said, in a voice so shy it was barely audible.

A few of the others nodded.

Eve did not let it show, but she was impressed. And, at the same time, more than a little mad at herself for not having tapped into this amazing resource of the diversity hires before. Why did it take a wooden stake lodged in a wall to make her realize how valuable they were?

To her left, Rex was quiet. But a faint movement of the air over her legs told her that his tail was wagging under his desk. And she noticed others were looking at him, looking to him for guidance. He was, after all, the first diversity hire to have been promoted to a decent job. She wondered what they could make of his vacant, vaguely smiling face. Definitely not an alpha.

***

The meeting was long. It was nearly morning when they all left their seats. Even Eve stood up, not to leave, but to stretch her tired legs. She had changed into her work outfit before the meeting, and her stiletto-heeled shoes felt too tight by now.

"I'm going upstairs," she told Rex. She was planning on reading more email reports before going to bed, but felt no need to do it in the office. "You can go home early, Mr. Fidel. We have excellent Security here."

She'd made sure Oswald could overhear her, and she saw him puffing his chest on his way out of the room. But Rex looked suddenly downcast.

"Can I stay here?" he asked. He didn't bring up the usual argument about wanting to guard her at all times. This wasn't about him being worried he'd lose his job. It was something else.

"Problems at home?" Eve asked.

She instantly regretted it. It was not like her to get involved with employees' personal problems. Rex instantly turned his eyes to her imploringly, and his eyes were large and round and brimming with tears. He really was good at making puppy eyes.

"It's my grandmother," he said.

"Is she ill?"

Eve tried to imagine what it must be like to have a family. Being a vampire, she hadn't experienced that in thousands of years.

"She is very well," Rex said immediately. "Very strong. She's our alpha."

Eve tried to piece together what he wasn't telling her. She felt a headache coming on. This was exactly why she never asked employees about personal problems. She wanted to tell him to go home, but when she looked into his eyes to make it an order, she was met by the tearful puppy eyes. This was why all the vampire girls seemed to want to adopt him. It was annoying just how helpless he looked.

"You can sleep on the sofa," she said coldly, heading instinctively for the vending machine to get herself a strong dose of caffeine. "Just don't snore."