BOTS?

Test running my programmed app to the six major shareholders of Laurent's Inc., excluding the owner, using Andrew; an eighty year old vampire. I collected his print, inputting it into the app and let the program run its course. A beeping sound filled the silent room, as my app identified five newly made vampires Andrew had turned and their locations. Resounding applause came up from all over the room as I clicked off the projector, done with my presentation. After four weeks of working in Laurent's Lab and I had developed my program further with the help of their database and facilities, and had been invited today to the shareholder's meeting to present my project to them. I walked out of the meeting room, my heart in my shaky legs as I went back to my office, Claude's scent of lavender and sex following me, meaning I had done well and had gotten his approval.

An hour later, Claude walked in, an eminent grin plastered on his face, "You did great out there, D". We had resorted to a first name basis now, him taking it a little far. "They were impressed".

"Is that what they said or what you deduced from reading their base emotions?", I countered, eyeing him.

"Well, you'll never know now would you", He replied, the grin still on his face as he sat down on his desk.

"Why was Jacob St. Laurent not present? I mean he called the meeting", I asked, speculating. Hoping I wouldn't have to do the presentation all over again.

Claude laughed, humorlessly before responding fondly, "Jacob St. Laurent does whatever the fuck he wants".

Facing his computer, Claude ignored me till I left for a meeting in floor 30.

I greeted Lanie and sat besides her in the conference room, the projector on and lying in wait for the commencement of the meeting.

"What's going on?", I whispered to Lanie, the tension in the room sharp enough to cut skin, as people trooped in somberly.

"Apparently, there's been evidence of an underlying revolution", Lanie whispered back, crouching down to my ear level to answer. I was about to throw back another question, when the assistant manager of Floor 30 walked in and everybody straightened, the vampire eerily quiet.

The projector illuminated a picture on the white wall, as murmurs rose through the room, my eyes locking on the picture that resembled a human.

"We found one of these last night in the underground subway in Winlow Street, during patrol last night", the assistant manager commented, his fiery gaze assessing us. "What does it look like?" He asked, not receiving an answer, he continued, " To the outside eyes, it would look like a human", the word 'human' coming out as vermin. "But if you look closely, you'll see the lines dividing its face, and it's mechanically wired eyes, you'll see what it truly is", he said, zooming in on the picture. "A human bot".

The gasps emanated at once, heads turning in puzzlement and shock, my head reeling at the picture. "How's that possible?", I muttered under my breath.

"Good question", the assistant manager said, his eyes fixed on me. I cursed inwardly at the vamps' supernatural hearing. "That's what I would like to know. The who? The how? And most of all, the why?", He added, with that he left, leaving us perplexed and confused as hell.

Massaging my temple with my fingers, my headache building, as I used my free hand to close my file.

Lanie turned to me after speaking with a coworker, "You good?", She asked, watching me with wary eyes.

"Just a bit of headache", I answered.

"Fred is going to assign teams to look into the situation and find the answers to the questions", Lanie stated and I knew I was going to be assigned under a team, because even though I was in the top floor, I was still under Floor 30.

"Why are we the ones making the inquiries, though?", I asked as Lanie walked with me to the elevator.

"It's our job, dummy", Lanie looked at me like I had taken leave of my senses.

"But we're lab not P.I's", I queried, trying to make a point.

"Labs are the home of scientific investigators and this is a scientific case, don't you think", Lanie corrected me, like one would a petulant child and I went back to my office with my tail between my legs.

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My house bell rang and I went down to let Kane and Sacha in for our monthly sleep over, hugging them over loud shrieks of excitement and finally getting together.

"So have you seen him yet?", Sacha asked, the tips of her black hair dyed bright orange as we lay on the floor of my bedroom, snack wraps littered everywhere.

"Who?" , I countered, feigning ignorance, I knew damn well who she was asking about.

"The King of Vampires", She voiced in that 'duh' tone of hers.

Sighing, "At this point I think he's a myth", I commented.

"Maybe he's keeled over and bitten the bucket", Kane chimed in, and we both laughed.

"That's not true", Sacha whined, hitting both of us to stop laughing and making side comments.

"Sorry, queen of Vampires", I countered, "Your husband is very much alive".

"Sure he keeled over from the thought of having to mate Sacha alone", Kane muttered, causing me to laugh again at an already mad Sacha.

After bouts of laughs and work talks, Kane said somberly, "My dad wants me to undergo the change", making us sit up.

"Do you want to?", I asked, the thought of the change scaring me.

Kane shrugged, "I don't know. I guess I want to try".

"What if you die?", Sacha screamed, her eyes glinting with tears. Sacha was hardcore on the outside but soft puty porridge on the inside, especially when it came to us. "It happens'', she added quietly, calming her outburst.

I looked at Kane, who had already made up his mind, from his gilded expression. He took mine and Sacha's hands, "I promise to go through it and come out alive". "So I can show off my fangs", he added, breaking the tension.

Sacha faced me, her face still pale, "Do you want to undergo the change too?"

I hadn't thought about it yet, hadn't yet analyzed the complications or what would happen if something went wrong.

"I don't know yet", I voiced, causing Sacha to huff and turn away from me.

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Stopping on floor 30 on my way up the next day due to Lanie's summons, I walked out of the elevator and made my way to Lanie's desk.

"What's up?", I asked in, way of greeting.

"The list has been put up", she replied almost immediately, looking up from her computer.

"Really", my blood tensing, "that's quick".

"Evidently, the higher ups want the case sealed and done before the vampires get wind of it."

"By higher ups, you mean St. Laurent", I deduced, my eyebrows quirking.

"Yes", Lanie answered, she was putting on her reading glasses and she resembled one of my professors from Fangs, giving the sexy-sultry,-i give a good fuck- look.

"Let's go check it out", Lanie said and led me down the hall to the floor's notice board where a handful of people were gathered, murmuring and mumbling. The crowd gave way for us and I squinted in search of my name, finally finding it listed under Team 3, along with one other name.

"Vanir?", I questioned, finding Lanie staring at my name under Team 3, "Who's that?"

"You're the only one in a group of two", Lanie gasped, her face taking on a horrified feature. What? I searched through the list and found what she was saying to be true, my face remixing hers in horrified shock.

Sitting at my desk, chewing on my fingernails in worry, I turned to face Claude, "Who's Vanir?"

Obviously the question also shocked Claude so much that he jerked on his computer desk and faced me, "I'm sorry what?"

"Vanir? I'm supposed to lead an investigation with a Vanir that nobody's seen or met".

Muttering something under his breath, Claude spoke after a while, all traces of shock erased from his features, "I don't know".

"But you just had a visible reaction to the name", I countered.

"A slip of emotions", he answered and ignored me for the rest of the day per usual.

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"Any luck?", I asked Lanie as we sipped after hours drinks at our usually frequented bar.

"No girl, no luck". "It's like he's unknown. Nobody knows. And I say this from both sources, human and tech", she answered, staring at me in worry again.

"It's cool. We meet with our partners tomorrow right?"

Lanie confirmed, her red head bobbing in affirmation.

"Maybe he's a shareholder", I suggested.

"I doubt that", Lanie deferred. "I don't think a shareholder will be willing to do dirty work".

"But you said so yourself. That they wanted it quick and done with".

"I said the higher ups, the higher ups entail only one person", she countered.

Slumping back into my seat, my brain deflated from too much work, I finished my drink and headed home.