Dr. Book,

I agree. We got off on the wrong foot.

You have done nothing to offend me. I am open to allowing you the opportunity to apologize in person, but to be clear—I expect nothing more than obedience and deference from you. 

You may resume your work in one week, since you will again be on premises and have access to my lab. 

Best regards,

Soraya Santiago

A unique sense of loneliness sat heavily upon Soraya’s shoulders when she responded to the email. She sank backwards, her hands raking through her dark mane once before tightening in the strands at the nape of her neck. A brief burn at the roots. A moment of desperation melted into a state closer to calm. Soraya sat in near silence; the only sound in the room was that of the old clock ticking away the time, and her gentle breathing. It was as if she could sit right where she was and ignore the rest of the world. If only that fallacy was true. 

A feminine knock startled her, and she nearly tipped the chair back when she stood slamming the lid closed a bit too hard. Then chided herself for such a reaction.

“It’s open,” she said, seating herself again and flipping open the laptop.  It glowed with the Botwin Botanicals logo, a design she quite liked.

Ruby Redmayne walked through the door, and the room chilled. Soraya had only met the woman once before. Willowy with ethereal beauty, Ruby seemed to float with a surreal stalk to her stride. Soraya saw that she held two vials in her palm. Without a word, she set both upon the desk and reached across, gently pushing the screen down. 

The vampire wore no muzzle or mask. Her assistance was conditional, long-ago determined between her and the Santiago family. Soraya picked up the first vial, a clear, viscous liquid, thick in the way it rolled through the tube. 

“It will help with the bruising, Ms. Santiago,” Ruby said. Soraya’s attention snapped upward. The unique teal shade of her gaze bore into her own.

Ruby was statuesque, standing many inches above her even when she wasn’t seated. The perfected vision of blond curls framed her porcelain cheeks in complement to her smile. It hinted at the many words she did not speak, and Soraya wondered what traversed the undead woman’s mind. 

Her statement caused Soraya to take a moment to pull her sleeve down, tucking away the yellowing spots wrapped intimately around her wrists. She’d avoided her cousin for two days; the traces left upon her lingered longer than she cared to admit. Bruises encircling her breasts where his grip turned possessive. A vicious mark on her throat even now was hidden by keeping her hair down in luxurious waves. Botwin had an amazing line of concealer that lined her neck in a generous application.

“The bruises?” Soraya asked. Ruby scoffed at the question. The assistant merely tilted her chin down and lifted an eyebrow. Of course she wasn’t stupid. “Right. The bruises.”

None of it was her fault, but why did it feel like all of it fell on her? Every time he showed up, she caved. Every mark he left felt like a reprimand. In a way, perhaps it was her own masochistic way to punish herself for transgressions she knew were immoral. The email she’d sent only minutes earlier resonated. Why was Ruby helping her?! 

Soraya twisted the cap and tipped the vial backward. Its sweet tang burned like native cuisine, leaving its heat on her tongue. A flush flared up her cheeks and she gasped, one hand clutching the chair’s arm. Ruby watched passively, her facial expression unchanged. It didn’t take long. The sensation of the bruises on her wrist fading tingled, like the pins and needles of a limb falling asleep and coming back to life. 

“I’ll send a vial each morning with breakfast, Ms. Santiago. The other will go in Mr. Martinez-Ruiz’s morning coffee. You will drink tea each morning from now on. To keep you safe.”

Soraya picked up the second vial, a white powder clinging to the sides. She wanted to ask what it was, but something in the woman’s expression warned her not to. Ruby would do her job and let Soraya remain absent from the decision of what ended up in her cousin’s coffee. Breakfast at Botwin was often sumptuous, and Joaquin enjoyed his two eggs over-medium, bacon and dark-roast. 

Soraya disliked most tea, but was positive the chef could figure out a creative way to please her palate. She sat silently, staring at the powder. It reminded her of her family’s drug of choice. A fine, white substance, ready to snort up the nose. Ready to burn from the inside out. 

The open door darkened when Joaquin stepped into view. His immaculate suit was a perfect cut to accent his trim torso. Ruby stepped back, sweeping the empty vial into the garbage and removing the secondary vial from Soraya’s fingers before Joaquin spoke.

“Mi amor, where have you been hiding?”

He did not regard Ruby when he stepped into the room. It was as if Malcolm’s assistant did not exist in his universe. Soraya lifted to her feet, noting a bit of shadow beneath her cousin’s eyes. A glance wayward confirmed that Ruby had not waited for permission to dose his morning drink; the blond smiled, a slight twist of her lips and nothing more. She excused herself as Joaquin swept Soraya into his arms. Ruby slipped from the room in preternatural silence and no glance back at the two. The kiss lasted longer than she wanted, and he seemed disappointed when she pulled away. 

“I have been busy, Joaquin. I wish to bring your business success, after all.”

She closed the laptop before he noticed who she had emailed, and linked an arm through his. The bruise she’d tried hiding no longer existed, but a part of her knew she’d end up wearing a new one by morning. Her plans to sabotage his private jet might have been less dangerous and more efficient, but the promise of watching his body degrade under Ruby’s plans stoked a need for retribution Soraya did not know existed.

Joaquin claimed her waist and his lips trailed her throat. His plans might have been to hoist her onto the desk and leave everything upon it scattered on the floor, but her phone chimed with a reminder about a meeting in fifteen minutes. The happy sound filled the room, obnoxious but useful. 

She grasped both of his cheeks and gave his mouth a quick press and nothing more. 

“I need time to prepare. I will lavish attention on you tonight,” she said.

It took several more kisses before he relented and left Soraya alone in her office. She stared at the vacant space his body had filled, and the earlier feeling of loneliness, of longing, returned. 

She missed Malcolm—and it was the last feeling she wanted to have. It coiled in her belly and strangled her heart. Every time Joaquin touched her, she imagined his hands claiming her hips, leaving bruises she didn’t mind wearing. The distance between her and the elusive estate felt like a galaxy, somewhere she couldn’t access. In the office’s quiet, she yearned for his reply email, if only to know he still existed, and she was one step closer to feeling his fingers wrapped in her hair and his cock plunging into her sex. 

Soraya walked into the meeting four minutes late. Rushed as it was, getting herself off with thoughts of Malcolm Book in her head was worth the glower she received as she took her place in the third chair to the left. Her cheeks glowed with a flush and her sex convulsed several, final times. A small smile formed, its meaning secret with a sprinkle of wicked. 

“What are you all waiting around for? We have business to attend to.”