Falling For A Follower

Chapter 8

 "I can't believe I have to take you to work with me" I express angrily as I watch the road, the stranger beside me just gazed out of the window "I don't want to be on my own, I get bored and that's when bad stuff starts to happen" he replies before going quiet. I sigh and turn towards the building, parking my car in my spot under the trees. I take the keys out of the ignition and point them at him, looking him straight in the eyes "well don't cause any issues for me, the boss has an important job for me. You are to wait in my office and not leave" I say before stepping out of the car. 

The stranger and I walk into the building, shadows cast themselves down the hallways. The stranger heads towards my office and I head toward the meeting room. As always, I get there just before the commander. When I sit next to Val, she nudges me, I turn towards her and she was giving me a weird look "so, you and that man" she starts but I cut her off "nothing happened" I dismiss the conversation and focus on the commander. He walk back and forth the front of the room lecturing on of the groups on their last job as they had disobeyed orders and caused issues with the client. The lecture seemed to go on forever but at long last, he started to list off names and hand out assignments. A few people didn't have any work but had just come in to report, Val was one of those people. The commander called me up and suggested that we go to his private office to discuss my job, I rise from my desk and follow in his shadow. We pass several vampires, many of them looking either drunk or tired. We make it to the office, I never liked this room. It was small and very cramped, the smell of dust and something else always lurked here. The commander sits down and gestures that I do the same, I sit on the chair opposite him. He gets out a thin file and drops it on the desk, clearing his throat, he gets down to business, "This is a very important job as I told you the other day, I'm sending you because we cannot afford to mess this one up" he begins, I nod in agreement "I need you to go undercover to a very exclusive party held up in the fae king's castle, they've been linked in with the recent disappearances of the younger vampire scouts. I need you to get in and find evidence and information. I understand that this isn't exactly your line of work, but the higher ups believe that you are the best candidate for this" he holds the file out to me and I reach for it, taking it in my hand, the commander sniffs the air. He looks at me intensely "you are looking surprisingly well, your dark circles have disappeared and you have some colour in your face. Have you had real blood recently" he asks, not taking his eyes off me. Heat rushes to my face and my shoulders tense, memories of the night before flood my mind, "no sir, I have not" I lie, standing up with the file "now if you excuse me, I need to get started" I say leaving the cramped office. 

I pace down the hallway towards my office, the door was slightly open and I could hear voices inside. I push the door open further and enter the room, Val was sat on my desk chatting away while the stranger stood at the window looking out at the busy night time streets. "What are you doing in here Val?" I ask walking up to my desk and dropping the folder, she turns to me "I came here to wait for you but it seems like you already have company" she smirks nodding towards the stranger "it's not like that, he had nowhere to go today so just keep your mouth shut" I reply gesturing her to leave. She gets up abruptly and heads for the door "you better watch that one, she's rude sometimes" Val exclaims in the strangers direction, he doesn't move "I'm well aware" he replies. Val leaves and makes a point to shut the door loudly, I sigh and sit at my desk. "just ignore anything she said, she can say some really crazy things" I explain as I start to read through the first page. He walks over and reads over my shoulder "it's fine. What do we have to do" he asks. I stop, "we? this is that important job I told you earlier, I can't afford to mess this up so keep out of it" I say looking at him, he continues to read. "well it looks like you have to have help on this one" he points at a paragraph on the paper "see, 'you must seem believable, therefore you must bring a male plus one, preferably with a similar background as yourself' it says so" he points out. I read that part a few times and sigh, "looks like I'm going to have to agree with you here. I also need help from Val but judging by how I just spoke to her, she won't want to help me" I say rubbing my forehead as I read further. "why do you need Val's help?" I look at him. "well Val knows about this area" I point on the paper "in case you didn't figure it out, I don't own formal wear, let alone a full on ballgown. She knows how it all works" I admit. He looks at me "I guess I have to dress up too? seeing as I would be going undercover with you" he says taking a step back, I nod and continue to read "you need a mask too, not like the one you're wearing though. One for a masquerade, so it covers your eyes and the top half of your face, covering your entire face would be suspicious" I explain. I hear him sigh behind me, "fine" he sulks "lets get to work"