Monster Like You

Chapter 1

I often have this dream.

I'm coming back for a second interview at the Cerberus Corps. I am young, ambitious and have too much of an opinion of myself. I'm a little annoyed because the Corps itself invited me, having got a resume from nowhere, because I wasn't looking for a job at that time, and now it's chasing me through interviews. First as a personnel officer, now with the senior investigator of the group where I should be hired. At the same time, I feel a slight excitement at the prospect of becoming part of one of the most mysterious and powerful organizations of Great Britain.

I am sitting in a modest meeting room for three, there is a cup of coffee on the table in front of me, carefully served by the secretary, and the senior investigator is already ten minutes late. In absolute silence, I stare at the boring walls, wondering whether to show my character and leave when fifteen minutes have elapsed - a delay allowed by the rules of decency.

In the dream, part of me already knows what will happen next. This part is waiting for the moment when the door opens and my life is divided into "before" and "after".

"Before" I was sure that love is just hormones. I thought that weak knees, trembling inside, difficulty breathing and inability to formulate a thought in the presence of an object of passion were a lot of stupid chickens who did not know their own worth. I also questioned the very existence of passion, assuming that this is how people justify their mistakes. I have never lost my head, approaching cavaliers with a sober calculation. It depressed my mother.

"After" I considered myself a fool who didn't understand anything before. Never loved. That's probably what happens when you fall in love for the first time at twenty-five. For the first time you experience awe, delight, and fear, and despair. For the first time, you begin to doubt yourself and your own attractiveness. For the first time you lose your head, confuse words and forget how to breathe.

"Velvet Treasure," my interviewer reads quietly, but very clearly from the sheet. He is already well over thirty, he has very beautiful light gray eyes and snow-white hair, a short haircut, a toned figure and a military bearing, thanks to which the senior-head's uniform fits perfectly. "Velvet... Beautiful name."

In my dream, I blush over and over again when I hear this, as it was in reality. I've always liked my name, but at that moment I felt awkward because it was so strict. I remember how scared I was that they might not take me because of her. I was already too young and didn't really look like the analyst they were going to hire me for. Are strange people analysts?

In my dream, my future boss - Nathaniel Bond - looks at me and asks some questions, but I don't hear them. In reality, I was too shocked by him, so I didn't remember anything: he asked about anything, or what I answered, blushing and stuttering like a schoolgirl.

I try to warn him about the danger that threatens him, but I can't. I don't remember the words; I don't know how to say it and how to explain it. And he keeps saying something and talking, his quiet, insinuating voice envelops me. Nathaniel seems to get under my skin, entangles me with a thin thread of a spider's web, locks me in forever so that I can never look at anyone else. It doesn't happen that way, you say? I thought so too.

In reality, we worked together for about a year. I learned not to stutter in his presence, began to be useful and soon achieved that the boss began to appreciate me as a professional. Unfortunately, he completely ignored me as a woman.

Nathaniel was friendly and affable, always showing a willingness to help subordinates: listen to their problem, understand it and solve it, or at least explain how to solve it. He remembered all the birthdays and always found a few kind words when we needed them. When we let him down, he forgave us, always took responsibility for our mistakes in front of the management, and only asked us not to do it anymore. Still the same quiet and calm voice that crept under my skin and caused a wave of goosebumps every time I heard it. Each of us at such a moment was ready to die on the spot, just not to let him down anymore. And we did not fail. Would you say there are no such bosses? I thought so too.