Old Blood Read online

  Chapter 2

  Victoria woke up one morning late for work because she pressed snooze on her alarm clock one too many times. Victoria’s long brown hair, tan skin, and green eyes reflected in the mirror as she apprehensively woke up. She was sleepily trying to avoid getting up even though she was half an hour later than usual getting up. She didn’t want to wake up, but she did it with reluctance. The air was humid and the sun shined in through the window brightly. It was hard to breathe in the 98 degree temperature without a properly working air conditioner. She covered her eyes and said to herself sarcastically “Another day in paradise”. She could smell her coffee brewing as she sniffed the air. She took a shower and did everything she normally did to get ready, just faster than what she usually did. Getting ready for work quickly was something she was skilled at but getting to work on time was something she wasn’t good at. She had been late three times in the last month.

  Today came in over one hour late and her boss was angry at her like usual complaining about her tardiness. Her boss was a patient man and could have fired her a long time ago, but he had no one else to promote to his assistant that would put up with his crap. He told her that the Hiroshita project was horrible and they lost the account. The Japanese were not impressed with her presentation and the translator said they would have rather suffer hara-kiri than watch her presentation anymore. They would much rather cut out their innards than watch her bomb the presentation. This project was more important than anything she had ever worked on and she had failed to excite them. It would have put her bosses company, Smart-Cloud on the map. They would have been the leading app development company and they would have had a contract to develop apps for smart TV’s. The Japanese were not interested in working with them and if they weren’t interested then all of Asia could potentially be lost. Her boss would have to somehow convince another large Japanese company to invest. He was mad because he thought the contract was guaranteed.

  A few months ago she lost their contract with the Middle East when they were trying to buy a spreadsheet app. She was out of touch and losing focus. Her boss really didn’t want to let her go, but it was either that or suspend her without pay, which he had tried once before. When he suspended her before he hired a temp and she did a horrible job. The problem is that now he’s going to have to hire another temp or replace her with someone inside the company. He doesn’t want to have to do that.

  He regretfully fired Victoria with no questions asked and told her to vacate the building immediately. Victoria was extremely devastated, but she was expecting it. Her boss was a complete ass to everyone. She hadn’t even been promoted in more than a year. She was making the salary of a mid-level associate in the office when she was his assistant. She had her own office, while other associates had a cubicle, but that really didn’t matter now. She packed all of her things from the desk into one small box and ran to an open elevator. It was the worst 23 seconds she had to endure all day, as the elevator went down slowly. It was a sigh of much needed relief though because now she could focus on other things. She could possibly start up a work from home company. She had plans of doing something work from home for a while and never had time. After she left the building from she called a few friends who were off that day and went to Jenna’s coffeehouse. She had frequented there quite often for their French vanilla cappuccino and chai tea. From across the room she saw a handsome man. She had never seen him before and she had gone here quite often. He kept gazing at her from across the room and his stare was mesmerizing. It was almost hypnotic. She asked the server who the guy in the corner was but she didn’t answer her. Either she didn’t want to tell her or no one knew.

  She left the coffeehouse and she decided to go and get ready for an upcoming concert she had plans to go to that night. While she was getting ready that night she thought saw him outside her window. She then saw a bat sitting on her windowsill and she screamed. Bats really scared her and gave her the creeps. Victoria put on perfume and she put on makeup generously. She didn’t need to put on much makeup. She had a natural glow and beauty about her. Her feminine mystique and her southern charm attracted all the guys with no problem. This made her girlfriends jealous. Her friends came over to pick her up and take her to the concert, but she couldn’t help but think of this mystery man. She was preoccupied and lost in daydream like thoughts as she dreamt of him. He had a rugged mystique about him that intrigued her. She just kept daydreaming about him and hoped to see him again. She couldn’t help envisioning his tight grip, soothing eyes, and his beautiful smile. That same night she caught sight of him at the concert, it was only glimpse but she knew it was him. She had to track him down through the crowd if it was the last thing she did.

  She pushed everyone through the crowd trying to find him. As the music blared and the bass thumped, so did her heart. She had no intentions of caring about the music and what was going on, she was on a mission to find him. It was like he disappeared though and she was unsure where he went. It made her extremely irritated because she only wanted the chance to say hi and to talk to him. If she could only talk to him and have a moment of his time she could convince this man to talk. His baby blue eyes were so mesmerizing and enticing. They lured her in like a big fish attracted to a worm. He managed to vanish through the crowd and remained to be unseen. He was like a ghost in the night or an enigma. She was rather saddened by it, but Victoria would find him someday soon.