The Demon's Song: Paranormal New Adult Romance (4 page)

The only benefit of the dark was that she couldn’t see any of the shadows, not really. As she passed under streetlights, she could see them dancing through the yellow light, but once she reached the dead end street, it was too dark to notice them. It was almost too dark to see the old Victorian mansion that sat alone on the empty road.

She’d noticed it the other night as she’d walked home in the sunset, its dark exterior standing out against the falling orange leaves. It was elegant and well-kept and she had to wonder who lived there. Jane would probably know, someone with a house like that was bound to have some money at the bank, but she never thought to ask.

In the dark rain of the early Friday morning, the house looked decidedly more sinister as lightning cracked overhead. Another shadow crept across her eyes in the short burst of light, but the flash was over as quickly as it began and Cadence picked up her pace as she stomped through the field and got to the office building.

With a swipe of her key card, she was inside and out of the rain. Carefully, she wiped off her boots and picked them up as she walked barefoot across the empty lobby. The receptionist wasn’t due to arrive until eight-thirty and there was no one to sneer at her as she made her way to the office.

The cold shoulder she’d received from the other secretaries had yet to thaw and every time she did happen to see one of them, she would get a sneer in reply to her own smile. Worse, they wouldn’t even wait until she was out of earshot to start whispering about her and she would have no choice but to retreat back to the third floor where she and Ramona would sit alone, usually in silence, while they waited for another of Mr. Crane’s clients to arrive.

At the very least, she was thankful to have not run into Olivia at all. She was dreading seeing the woman that she’d inadvertently stolen the job of Mr. Crane’s executive secretary from. Everyone hated her for it, she couldn’t help but hate herself a little for it, but she could only imagine how much Olivia despised her.

The early mornings were hard, but at least she didn’t have to worry about running into the rest of the secretaries. They were out for blood and the only person who didn’t seem to hate her was Ramona, and she was leaving for good at five.

For the first time since she’d started at Crane & Partners, Cadence got to her desk before Ramona. She tucked her coat into the small closet hidden behind her desk and hid her muddy boots on a plastic mat under her desk. Draven’s coat was in the closet as well, which was another indication he left for her that he was already in his office.

“Morning,” Ramona’s voice greeted her as she stepped off the elevator. “Sorry I’m running behind.”

“It’s okay,” Cadence smiled back at her from her spot behind the desk. “Mr. Darby isn’t in yet.”

Mr. Darby was Frederick Darby, a famous children’s book author who was scheduled to meet with Mr. Crane once a year at exactly this time. Most of Draven’s clients only made an appearance once every five years, but there were a few annual clients such as Mr. Darby.

Ramona had barely stuffed her coat in the closet when the buzzer at the front door of the building rang.

“Shit,” she muttered. “I’ll be right back.”

“I’ll go get him,” Cadence said as she stood up from her desk. Mr. Darby was still a few minutes early, but she walked briskly to ensure he wasn’t waiting long in the rain.

“I apologize,” she said as she got the front door for Mr. Crane’s first client, but he didn’t seem to mind being kept waiting. Actually, none of Mr. Crane’s clients were anything but nice and patient.

When she started the job, she expected his executive clients to be rude, condescending, and worse, but they were all very well-mannered when kept waiting. If anything, some of them even seemed scared of the man and his secretaries.

“It’s fine,” Mr. Darby smiled, his face well lined with age. “I understand my early appointment is an inconvenience and I appreciate you being here.”

“It’s no problem,” Cadence assured him, even though it was a bit of a lie. “This way please.”

Once Mr. Darby was in Draven’s office, Ramona and Cadence were left to sit and wait until it was time to start making calls at nine. No one disturbed them, no one called them, and there was nothing to do but sit and wait.

Ramona pulled out another paperback and Cadence followed suit. She was happy to get some reading done while she was working, but soon she would be on her own and she wanted to ask Ramona questions about what else to expect from her job, but Ramona had assured her she had taught her everything she could.

“He’s been in there a while,” Cadence noted as the morning went on. Usually Mr. Crane’s clients took an hour, maybe two, tops, but Mr. Darby had been there for several hours.

“He likes to renegotiate once a year,” Ramona explained. “Mr. Crane only has one more appointment this evening, and it’s because Mr. Darby will be a while. Don’t worry, the book is all marked with people like him. You’ll be fine.”

“Thanks,” Cadence smiled. “I’m just nervous. What if I screw up?”

“You won’t,” Ramona assured her. “It’s pretty impossible, as long as you follow the book.”

Cadence was about to ask more questions, but the phone rang and she couldn’t help but jump. No one ever called Mr. Crane’s office directly, the phone was almost exclusively for outgoing calls.

“Hello?” Ramona answered. “Okay. Yes. We’ll be right down.”

“What’s going on?” Cadence asked.

“Well,” Ramona said, a smile growing across her lips. “It seems like the girls downstairs got me a good-bye cake.”

“That’s sweet,” Cadence said as she forced her own smile. “Have fun.”

“You can come with me,” Ramona told her as she stood from the desk. “Get yourself some cake.”

“I shouldn’t,” Cadence insisted. “I know they don’t like me much.”

“It’ll be fine,” Ramona assured her. “They can’t hate you forever for taking Olivia’s job. Please come, you should get to know them. Don’t spend your time here being isolated like I did.”

“Fine,” Cadence relented. She really didn’t want to come down to the second floor and show her face, she knew she wasn’t welcome and that it would be awkward. At most, she was going to make an appearance, maybe take a tiny sliver of cake, and then return to her desk. That was it.

Ramona stepped off the elevator first and Cadence did what she could to stay hidden behind her. The fewer people who noticed her, the better, but she wasn’t going to be that lucky. She barely made it out of the elevator before someone spotted her and the moment she locked eyes with Amy, she knew it had been a mistake to come down to Ramona’s good-bye party.

“I should go,” she whispered to Ramona, but she stopped her.

“Please stay,” Ramona insisted. That was when Cadence realized that Ramona was just as nervous as herself. She spent every day alone upstairs and probably knew the other secretaries as well as Cadence did. She needed an ally and Cadence couldn’t deny her that.

“Oh, Caitlyn,” Olivia sneered when she moved over to the small group of well-wishers.

“Um, it’s Cadence,” she corrected her.

“Whatever,” Olivia scoffed at her. “I take it things are going well upstairs.”

“Pretty good,” Cadence started, but she barely got the second syllable out of her lips before Olivia turned on her heel and went back to talking to some of the other secretaries.

It quickly became apparent to both Ramona and Cadence that the little good-bye party wasn’t so much a chance to send off Ramona with good wishes and cake, but an excuse for the other secretaries to get out of doing work for a little while eat cake, and, of course, make Cadence feel smaller than a speck of dust.

The other secretaries talked amongst themselves and while a few did talk to Ramona, Cadence was left standing by herself. She tried once to talk to Amy, but Olivia shot the other secretary a glance and Amy slunk away, leaving Cadence alone all over again.

When the cake was finally cut, Cadence expected to be left out once again, but by some miracle, a slice of the chocolate cake found its way to her hands. She found herself near tears in appreciation for the woman who handed her the plate.

The cake did look appetizing and the last thing Cadence wanted was to ostracize herself further by rejecting the offer. She even got a big glob of white icing on her piece and she couldn’t deny her own sweet tooth. She wanted the cake, but she worried the women would hate her more for taking a piece of cake if it wasn’t meant for her.

Still, she didn’t want to reject the peace offering, if that’s what it was. Someone had decided she deserved a piece and she slid her fork into the moist cake, excited to join her coworkers in enjoying the mid-day treat.

Until her fork hit something hard within the cake. The fork almost felt tangled in something thin and hard within her piece of cake and as she pulled her piece apart, she realized just what had caused the problem.

Inside the slice of cake she’d been given were at least five toothpicks, shoved in there intentionally to stop her from enjoying her slice. There was no way she would be able to eat around it the little wooden sticks and when she looked up, she realized that Olivia and the gaggle of secretaries were giggling at her while Ramona looked on in disappointment.

“Okay,” Cadence said with her head bowed. “I get it. You guys hate me. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean for any of this to happen.”

She couldn’t bear the idea of working there any longer if this was the kind of stuff she was going to have to put up with. Even she didn’t know what Mr. Crane saw in her to decide to pass over Olivia. She had no experience, no talents, nothing. Now she was in over her head and once Ramona left, she would have no one there to help her if she stumbled.

“Maybe you should just go home, sweetie,” Olivia said with venom dripping from her voice.

“Yeah,” Cadence said as her shoulders slumped with defeat. It really was the icing on the cake and she couldn’t handle it any more. Jane would hate her for giving up so easily, but she couldn’t imagine staying there for a minute more. The toothpicks weren’t that bad, but she knew it would just get worse and she had to get out while she still could.

Even with her obvious defeat, Olivia wouldn’t let up. The woman was out for blood and her claws were bared. She wasn’t going to relent until Cadence was in tears, or worse.

“Why did you even come down here?” Olivia spit at her. “No one wanted you down here, yet you still walked in. Isn’t it bad enough you took my job? Now you’re just rubbing my nose in it!”

Cadence didn’t know what else to say. Instead, she tried to flee back to the elevator, but her antagonist wasn’t done yet. Olivia blocked her escape only ten feet from the metallic elevator doors. Cadence could see her escape, but she couldn’t reach it and all she wanted to do was disappear.

“Do you know how long I worked for that job?” Olivia asked, her voice a hiss as she kept her back to the elevator. “You think you can just waltz in here and take what I’ve worked for? Who the hell do you think you are?”

Olivia had started out malicious, but she was turning angry and her fists were clenched with rage. Cadence wasn’t so much worried about being ostracized or mocked anymore. She was really starting to worry that Olivia was going to attack her and Cadence flinched as Olivia took a step towards her.

Everyone behind them was mumbling their agreements with Olivia’s anger, but their voices went silent as the elevator doors opened again. Even Cadence’s eyes went wide as the tall, lean frame of Draven Crane stepped off the elevator. His hair was pushed back and he had a curious glint in those bright blue eyes of his. That same mischievous smile was touching the corners of his mouth as he watched the display carrying on in front of him.

It was only Olivia, with her back to the elevator and rage on her face, that didn’t notice the boss’s arrival. She was too busy directing her anger at Cadence to take note of the tall, imposing man behind her. She was still spewing vitriol and it wasn’t until Draven Crane cleared his voice that she spun to see him.

“Mr. Crane,” she said, her voice more of a croak than human. “I didn’t see you there.”

“No, I don’t think you did,” he said, his voice even and cold. “Olivia, is it?”

“Y-yes sir,” she managed with a stutter.

“Do you have a problem with how I staff my office?” he asked her, his hint of a grin fading quickly.

“No sir!” she said, but against what had to be rational thinking, she continued. “It’s just... I was up for that promotion and I thought maybe it would be wise for Miss Lowry to start as a secretary before she took on the responsibility of being your executive secretary.”

“Oh, you’re just looking out for her best interests?” Draven said, his voice turning with a low growl. “If I wanted your recommendations, I would have asked for them. Miss Lowry is my executive secretary, and if I even suspect that you or anyone else are being anything but respectful to her, you will be looking for a new job. Understand that?”

“Yes sir,” Olivia nodded.

“As for the rest of you,” Draven said as his voice turned even darker. “As my executive secretary, Cadence has the authority to make decisions in regards to staffing. Do I make myself clear?”

As he spoke, Cadence thought, for just a moment, that something different flashed in his bright blue eyes. Something that seemed to practically burn through her and she wasn’t sure if she should fear him or not. At that moment, she could only manage to be grateful, even if his words came back to haunt her later.

“Yes sir,” the secretaries echoed each other, every one of them staring at their shoes as they did.

“Good,” Draven said. “Ramona, Cadence, come with me.”

Neither of the two women replied, they simply followed their boss to the elevator and Cadence kept her eyes on the ground as the doors closed behind them. A voice inside her wanted to see the fear on the secretaries’ eyes, but she knew that even a hint of gloating would make everything worse, even with Mr. Crane’s threats.

More than anything, she wanted to thank Draven for coming to her rescue. Part of her wanted to throw her arms around him and thank him for stopping Olivia’s onslaught, but she thought better of it.