Sophie sat at her desk completely confused. She couldn't stop thinking about what her strange boss had just done with her; she didn't understand if it was bad or good.

"Sophie, what happened? Why did you go to the big boss's office? Did he fire you?" Glorie asked her with all possible eagerness.

"Because I made a report wrong and he almost fired me. He also wanted to sanction me, but I begged him not to."

"You did what?" Glorie replied terrified.

"Well, I asked for mercy for myself. Now my economic situation is the worst; my salary is barely enough for me to survive. My mother's nursing home is very expensive and so are her medicines."

"No one has ever asked for the boss's mercy. He is a very demanding person; most come down from that floor to collect their things. You have been very lucky, Sophie."

"Do you believe that, Glorie?"

"I am more than sure."

Sophie felt strange at the words Glorie had just told her. The last thing she wanted was for a man like him to have pity on her, and much less for her coworkers to think she had some kind of privilege. So, determined, she rose from her desk again and went toward the elevator.

She was going to confront her obsessive boss.

Upon reaching the floor of his office, it was even darker than it had been when she went up. This time she felt true panic, and more so for having gone unannounced.

Not a hum could be heard. Valentin's secretary's office was one floor below his, so she was completely alone. She continued down the hallway prepared to knock, but the fear was greater than her intentions to speak with her boss and, terrified, she headed back toward the elevator.

Meanwhile, Valentin, like every vampire, had his life in nocturnal form. He slept for a few hours in his office, between six and seven hours, time enough in which no one interrupted him, for at night, along with his family, they lived the life of any legion of vampires: they fed and held meetings. Therefore, in the day Valentin was exhausted.

However, Sophie was exhaling a quite strong scent, one that was capable of pulling Valentin from his deep sleep. There was no need for a camera to realize that she was outside his office, and of course that she had run away.

In order not to make the story more terrifying, he approached the loudspeaker he had and spoke to her:

"What are you doing here, Miss Robinson?"

When she heard the voice coming from nowhere, she began to scream in terror. Sophie grabbed her head and began to jump while screaming; she had her eyes closed and squeezed tight. For Valentin, the scene was very funny. He left his office and stood in front of her.

"Sophie, do you not know about loudspeakers? Or security cameras?" Valentin said to her amused.

Sophie immediately opened her eyes and tried to steady her ragged breathing. After raising her head and looking at her boss, who was smiling amusedly, she immediately blushed.

"If you were watching me, why didn't you have me enter your office? What need was there to scare me this way?"

"I didn't mean to scare you. It is simply that you must first announce yourself. I only attend to staff from eight to ten in the morning; the rest of the day I am very busy. But it seems you are quite rebellious, right, Miss Robinson?"

"Sir, it's not about that. What happened is that I wanted to come speak with you," Sophie replied to him embarrassed.

"Speak about what?" Valentin was going crazy with fascination at the smell of fear she had. Controlling himself was costing him quite a bit, but she was completely forbidden to him.

"About my punishment. Well, if it's necessary, I accept the week of sanction; there is no problem," with her head bowed, she began to cross her fingers, hoping for clemency from her boss without the need for pleas.

"Sophie, do not worry, I am not going to sanction you. But if you continue doing this kind of impertinent things, I am very likely going to have to fire you."

"But sir..." she tried to refute what he was telling her, but the lights suddenly went out, leaving them in complete darkness.

Sophie began to scream again, but Valentin took her in his arms, trying to console her.

"Calm down, dear, nothing has happened; it's just the lights."

Upon brushing her skin, his instinct was playing a trick on him, but instead he took advantage of the situation and kissed her passionately in the darkness.

Sophie, incredulous at what was happening and without a single drop of light to see if it was true, let herself be carried away by the kiss and returned it. Their tongues were intertwined, their kisses were far too hot and passion was taking over the two of them. Valentin took her in his arms and lifted her; in an instant they were in his office. Although everything continued in the same darkness, she felt no fear. When this happened, Valentin's sanity made him come to his senses.

They kissed for a good amount of time: they were wet and passionate kisses. But as Sophie's fear began to fade, the scent that excited Valentin began to disappear.

He did not regret kissing her, but he knew that could bring him trouble. So, making use of his magical faculties, with a simple snap of his fingers he erased the weight of Sophie's memory and made the light return.

"What happened?" Sophie asked confused, looking at Valentin who was sitting at his desk as if nothing had happened.

"What happened with what, Miss Robinson? You came to speak with me and, well, here I am waiting for what you want to tell me."

Sophie remained looking at him as if she had lived through a waking nightmare. Again she began to tremble with fear and, without saying anything else, she fled.

"With your permission, Mr. Von Strudel. I have to go. I think there was a mistake here."

Valentin simply watched as she ran, sighed, and went back to his nap. He was enchanted by her; she was causing something in him that wouldn't even let him live in peace. But he had to control himself, and even more so because of what was about to come to the city. That was more important than making a human his own, much less if she was his employee.

Valentin returned to his mansion. He was terrified. In his transition from consuming human blood to animal blood, he had to control the instincts produced by the fact of smelling even a minimum amount of human blood. He knew that, if Sophie lost her virginity to him, there would be a small stain of blood that would drive him crazy, and after that it would be completely impossible to control the beast within himself.

Though this was not what really stopped him. When she told him it was her first time, a great hunch pierced his chest. He hadn't felt that for centuries, only when he met his fiancée, the great Cleopatra Vernacci. She was also a virgin when she gave herself to Valentin for the first time, and he with his venom tried to turn her into his goddess, but she carried a curse, one that led her to death in a confrontation with enemy lycanthropes.

Valentin felt the same sensation with Sophie that he felt with her, and although so much time had passed, he remembered that sensation as if it had been yesterday.

When he was already prepared to get ready to go to the big factory, his parents and his sister confronted him.

"Valentin, where were you?" Aby, his mother, confronted him. Her eyes were red and full of fire. Like the two siblings, she had supernatural abilities; she was stronger than an oak and when she became enraged there was no human or supernatural power that could stop her.

"I was taking a tour, mother. Why the question? Are you angry? Did something happen that I should worry about?"

"You are lying, son. You are not telling us the truth and the fact is your sister is far too worried about you," Morgan was the father of the Von Strudel family. He never brought his abilities to light, so many thought he was an ordinary vampire; however, he kept his prowess a secret.

"Lea, precious, tell me, for what reason are you worried about me? If you know that I know how to take care of myself, I have done it for years," Valentin approached her and gave her a kiss on the cheek. She was the person he adored most in his world.

"I know you have been where the girl from the inn is, your employee, and that is not the problem. The problem at this moment, Valentin, is that you cannot have anything with her. You cannot mix with that human."

"Are you spying on me, Lea?" Valentin looked at her with his red eyes and his moody gaze. If anything bothered him, it was his sister or his parents pursuing him.

"Please! We have had to live for centuries taking care of you from your wanderings and bad decisions regarding women, and now you complain about whether I am spying on you? It is evident that my visions show me everything bad that is about to happen."

"Are you implying that Sophie will bring me something bad?"

"Yes, little brother. She is not the one. I have seen several visions where we are in large confrontations with a killer pack, and she is there, like a great sorceress. Besides, she is the Moon of a lycanthrope. I am completely sure of that."

"No, Lea. This time I cannot believe in your visions. You are talking about something completely irrational. We are in the middle of the 21st century; sorceresses haven't existed since..." Lea interrupted him immediately.

"Since you fell in love with one thinking she was a human. Valentin, that woman does not suit you. Do not speak to her again, please. Take advantage of the fact that she has not realized your vampire condition and stay away from her. What's more, transfer her to another company, send her back to the big cities of the humans, where all that technology of cell phones exists, the internet... That pushes away any superpower that might have awakened in the calm of Charleston. Do it for our sake and for the humans' sake as well."

Valentin made a gesture of disagreement. He did not like what she was telling him at all. Lea was not always accurate with her premonitions; sometimes they did not have the meaning she said, but her words made him feel a bit of fear.

He had become obsessed with protecting humans, especially because he had a strong obsession with human women. Making them his own was something he lived with daily, but with Sophie something completely different was happening.

"Well, I am not going to stay away. I don't believe everything you are telling me is true. If she were a sorceress or were not human, I would simply feel it. You also know my supernatural abilities, and she is a simple human."

"A human whom you want to possess," Aby did not stop looking at him with fury. Valentin had always argued with his mother over his addiction to sex with human women, but this time she was thinking of the stability of their land, for they were not the only clan of vampires. There were many families inhabiting the earth; little by little vampires had been becoming extinct as a result of hunting by humans and the great wars with the lycanthropes.

What she wanted least at this moment was for what she had cared for so much for years to disappear because of a neglect by her capricious son.

"Mother, you do not understand. She is different. I cannot explain what is happening to me, but it is not just about sex. It is true that we have evolved and have had to adapt to the modern customs of the world, but that does not mean that the feelings inside me have been eliminated. I believe she is my goddess, and I am not going to rest until she transforms into that which I so desire."

"Son, I know that for years you have created a kind of obsession with humans, and it is something I do not intend to discuss. You are a far too handsome man and of course very young and attractive, but with her you cannot maintain that obsession. You must fire her immediately from the factory and make Sophie Robinson leave Charleston. She does not belong here," Morgan, in his serenity, intervened. His words were usually precise and imposing; he did not need to give an order more than once for it to be fully attended to.

"Well, no, father! I will not do it that way. She will be mine, whether you like it or not, and if I have to face an arsenal of wolves, lycanthropes, hybrids or humans, I intend to do it. She will be mine," Valentin replied defiantly.

"Have you wondered if she feels the same for you?" Lea was with her arms crossed, also defiant. Everyone was in a position of confrontation.

"I know she feels the same for me. I can feel it."

"She doesn't even know you're a vampire! What's more, she doesn't even know she's a damn sorceress. She was born in completely different times and worlds. You were born when we were in the era of conquest; she was born in a time where technology and society is a complete disaster. She is not for you, please."

Valentin vanished for a second and appeared in front of Lea. He took advantage of his height and looked over his shoulder at her; he showed her his teeth and his red eyes, challenging her to a confrontation. She also showed herself in the same position and brought out not only her teeth, but also her claws.

"Are you going to attack me, Valentin? Just for a human?"

"If you keep saying stupid things, yes!"

Aby immediately stepped between the two and, with a single shove, threw Valentin far away from his sister.

"You are not going to fight her again. She is only trying to protect you. You are going to leave the human alone; we have already said it. We have been and will be your family always. You are not going to trade us for some simple newcomer," Aby was overcome by fury.

"Everything has a solution. We must think about what we can do, Aby. Perhaps she is the goddess of our dear son Valentin. It has been a long time since he lost his fiancée; it is normal that he now wants to fall in love again. We can help him with that, of course, if she accepts it," Morgan intervened again.

"Father, that is not the problem. Whether she is his goddess is not the problem. The damn problem is that she is not an ordinary human. She is a sorceress; she is the Moon of an enemy lycanthrope. That is going to unleash a war, one that we have been avoiding for centuries, Dad, and we are not ready to endure it again. In 그 war you lost two of your children. Do you not care if you lose us too?"

Lea was completely inconsolable and distressed. The fact of seeing the future and having premonitions put her in a quite complex situation, as she could predict evil, and this time she was seeing a rather dark future.

"These are different times, dear daughter, and of course I would never want to lose you, but all of this has advanced. Humanity is different. There will be no more war, I promise you that."

"Did you not hear Elian? That something big and dangerous was approaching."

"But that has nothing to do with the girl your brother likes," Morgan approached Valentin and helped him up. He smiled at him and stood on his feet.

"Father, I love you all very much. I do not want to lose you, but do not count on me for this."

Lea disappeared from the room. She was completely indignant at the situation, while Valentin's parents were left with no choice but to support their son. At the end of the day, they were convinced that nothing more serious would happen; perhaps Lea was exaggerating.

That same morning, without having slept well and with all the confusion invading her head, Sophie arrived at the big factory. She waited for the elevator and, while she did, she felt a presence behind her. The fragrance it gave off reminded her that her boss was the only one who carried that scent.

"It can't be! This must be a freaking joke," Sophie thought.

But it was no joke. The great CEO of the company was behind her, radiant as always. This morning he did not look so pale, as he had turned to makeup to hide the lack of light in his skin a bit.

"Good morning, Miss Robinson. I am glad you arrived early for your work shift."

Sophie was completely petrified. If what happened the night before had been a dream, well, Valentin looked like an ordinary human being that morning. He looked perfectly normal: his gray eyes sparkled, his hair was perfectly styled, and he looked like a businessman like any of the other bosses she had had.

When the large elevator arrived, the doors opened and Valentin entered.

"Do you not intend to go up, Miss Robinson?"

"Mr. Von Strudel, good morning. Yes, of course I have to go up. I am going to my workstation; I have no other choice."

She entered the elevator. She began to break into a cold sweat being so close to him, because this indeed was reality. She felt embarrassed to have the protagonist of her dreams-which she wanted to categorize as a nightmare, but found impossible, for he was becoming her fantasy-right in front of her. In 그 moment she thought it was an unattainable fantasy.

When they were passing the fifth floor, the elevator stopped. Sophie felt panic and did not want her subconscious to play a trick on her again, so she began to press the emergency buttons with desperation.

"That usually happens in this company. We have tried to fix the elevators, but parts have to be brought from the big city and no one dares to come to Charleston. So we must wait for the regular courier; it takes about twenty more days."

"Oh... oh, really?" Sophie asked very nervously.

"Yes, Miss Robinson. So we will be alone for a matter of about ten minutes while they realize the blockage outside."

"Ten minutes?" Sophie turned, ending up completely facing him. She turned pale seeing him so perfect, so spectacular. He was a man far too attractive for her, and she thought that someone like him would never notice someone as ordinary as Sophie was.

"Yes. Does it bother you to be with me for ten minutes, Sophie?"

"No, sir, of course not. Forgive the boldness for having asked that way. I also wanted to know if you had thought of some corrective measure for me."

"A punishment for doing your work poorly, you mean?"

"Yes, a punishment, I suppose," she lowered her head and replied with resignation.

"The only punishment I want right now is to have you hanging on a cross, lashing your delicious breasts while your eyes are blindfolded and your crotch begs for my attention," Valentin whispered in a low voice, but again he gave a snap of his fingers, erasing that from Sophie's memory.

"Did you say something, sir?"

"No, there are no punishments for you. We are a modern company, not a holy inquisition. For now, simply fulfill your duty by doing things right, Sophie Robinson."

Suddenly the elevator continued its route. When she arrived at her work floor, she got ready to step out, looked at Valentin, and they exchanged a smile. In 그 moment she understood that the only things she was envisioning were simple visions, for her boss was a perfectly normal CEO, not some hardened stalker who arrived in her dreams and abused her, making her feel the greatest of pleasures.

Valentin first arrived at his secretary's floor. He needed to confirm all his tasks for the day first and warn that no one was to interrupt him 그 morning, as he needed to rest and thus recover.

"Itzel, what do we have for today?"

"Good morning, Mr. Von Strudel. Fortunately for you, there is nothing pending, no meetings. Everything in the factory is running perfectly," Itzel had been working with the Von Strudels for years. At 그 moment she was pregnant and sharp pains were bothering her.

"Itzel, are you okay?"

"No, sir, I am not. I feel very ill. I am about to have my child and I think I need a doctor."

"What? But why did you come to work like this, Itzel? Leave immediately, please. Call your husband to come for you."

"But, sir, we haven't designated my replacement. I am worried that everything won't be in order. Let me work until noon and tell someone to come replace me."

"Do not worry about that. We will call your husband immediately."

She smiled with resignation, but it was time for her labor to be attended to. A few minutes later, the great boss's secretary position was vacant. However, Valentin did not worry about 그 in 그 instant. After making sure Itzel was safe, he decided to completely turn off the lights on his floor and hung himself from the ceiling to take his nap-something that was a very old custom, as modern vampires had a bed like any other person.

그 day he decided he would leave Sophie's night in peace. He wanted to put things in order at his house with his family, to apologize for the day before. When it came time to arrive at the big factory, he had remembered the need he had for a new assistant. Without further thought, he thought of Sophie; he wanted to have her closer than she already was.

He took his large phone and called her.

"Good morning," Sophie answered from her workstation.

"Miss Robinson, I need you in my secretary's office in ten minutes. Remember the elevator takes three to get here, so do not be late," Valentin hung up on her. She immediately grumbled and threw her pen with anger onto her desk.

"Sophie, what's wrong?"

"The big man has me in his sights. He called me to his office. I imagine it is to tell me the sanction he has for me because of the mistake last time."

"Run, friend. If he gave you ten minutes and you don't want a new sanction, run for your life, please."

Sophie stomped her feet like a little girl and took the elevator. She adjusted her garments and seven minutes later she was in Valentin's secretary's office, but it was empty. She remembered that in this part of the factory only she worked and, one floor further up, was Valentin's office. Although it was not as somber as her boss's office, the cold in 그 place made her bones shudder.

"Good punctuality, miss. I have called you because I need your services at this moment."

"My services? I don't understand anything," the worst thoughts passed through Sophie's head. When he mentioned the word "services," she imagined herself on her knees before him, satisfying the darkest of his desires.

"Yes. My secretary has just had a baby and will be absent for about six months while her maternity leave is fulfilled. So you are going to take her place."

"Why me, Mr. Von Strudel? In this factory there are hundreds of people who have been here much longer and would wish to have this position."

"I thought you were interested. The day you were going to receive your sanction you told me you were going through a bad economic situation. From the moment the replacement for my secretary's position is filled, your salary will go up. Not only will you move up a floor. Now then, if you do not want it, I will ask your friend Glorie."

"Are you speaking seriously to me, Mr. Valentin?" she remembered that a couple of days ago they had called her from her mother's nursing home to notify her that they were going to put her out if she didn't pay the monthly fee. Furthermore, she was ill and they had to give her more medicine. A salary increase wouldn't be bad at all.

"I do not understand why you are asking me 그. Do I look to you like I have the air of someone joking with you?"

"Oh, sir, of course not. It's just that it took me by surprise, as I didn't consider that I was the most suitable for this position. But that being the case, I gladly accept with delight. When do I start?"

"Right now. Go to your desk and remove your things. My secretary's passwords and duties are laid out in a notebook that Itzel left on the desk. The only modern thing we handle in this company are the computers; however, she had a cell phone to be able to communicate with me through messaging. Does your phone serve the same purpose?"

"No, sir. My finances haven't allowed me to buy an updated phone. Everything I earn is to survive and keep my mother in the nursing home," she replied embarrassed.

"Do not worry. All employees of the factory have the right to be in better conditions. I will give you a check; go to the local bank and cash it. You must go to the neighboring city; it is about fifteen minutes from here. Buy yourself clothes and a new phone; you are going to need them."

Valentin took a checkbook from his pocket and handed her a check for a good amount of money. When Sophie saw it, she was completely impressed; she had never seen such a number in her hands.

"Sir, I cannot accept this. It is far too much money," she stretched out her hand, returning the check to him.

"It is a bonus from the company, Sophie. Just do what I require of you; otherwise you will have to say goodbye to your contract in the company. There are rules here and they must be followed," Valentin left her sight without even letting her whisper a word.

Sophie bit her lower lip and simply nodded her head, confused by her boss's words. She opened the laptop that was in front of her and realized that her duties simply consisted of placing all of Valentin's appointments in the morning, making a weekly report, and picking up his suits from the laundry. It seemed like such a stupid thing, but there was very little she had to do. She was not a professional and felt that this was one more setback for her life, but what did it matter if they were going to pay her almost double what she was already receiving for doing triple the work.