Chapter Three
Weiwei looked at her watch one more time. She was half an hour late from clocking out and had already told Shanshan to go home. Xiao Nai had a big shipment coming in from Beijing, and needed the files in perfect order. They were requesting information from a different district, and his own personal finance lawyer called again to have his money ventures ready to go by midnight tonight. She was just about done ordering everything, when the computer at his desk began to beep loudly. Weiwei watched as code came up on the screen. Someone was trying to back hack her algorithm.
"Shit." She quickly locked her hands on the keyboard. The only way to stop them was to shut down the automatic coding and do it manually. Taking in a deep breath, her hands began to fly over the keys, shutting down the autopilot, and begin to back track the hacker, while closing off his entries into their space. She started with locking down documents and portals, not allowing them in or out, but they were faster then she was. She was mostly just doing damage control and defense, by the time another pair of hands emerged over hers. Two arms came around her, quickly typing above hers, moving them to an offensive. She watched the code move faster over the screen then she could barely read it, the fingers flying over the keys at lightning speed. Weiwei watched the code being written and finally noticed the hacker was gone, but he was trying to finish the hack into their systems. She read it as quickly as he was typing it, realizing the the code he was wrong. Without thinking Weiwei smacked the top of his hands, batting them away, while she went back to work on finishing the hack. Her eyes glued to the screen, her focus on breaking in. The code was working, and in a few short minutes, she had used the hackers pathway back to their information, finally getting access to their network.
"We're in!" She cheered, smiling at the screen. It took her a few seconds to realize how close he was. His attention was on the screen, but his face was so close to hers. Xiao Nai scrolled through the documents they had unlocked faster than she could take them in. She swallowed, feeling his breath brush her neck. Weiwei find herself feeling him pressed slight against her, his arms weighing on her shoulders.
"Excuse me." She whispered ducking quickly under his one arm and coming to stand in front of desk. Xiao Nai took his seat, his eyes on the screen. Weiwei didn't know what to do, so she remained standing there, her hands clasped in front of her. She didn't want to leave without permission from her boss, nor did she thinks she should. It wasn't until a minute or so had past, did his attention finally fall on her. He raised a hand to his chin, his eyes taking her in. Weiwei quickly began to ramble out an apology.
"I'm sorry. I didn't know how late it had gotten. I was running behind with the paperwork today, and when I was almost finished the computer- I needed to manually hack it, to try and keep them out-and…" She blushed realizing she smacked his hands. "I didn't mean to hit you, it's just you were entering in the wrong code, and I was just-" He held a hand, stopping her.
"Thank you for stopping him. You were quick to shut him down from getting any information." She looked at him, not knowing what to do.
"Thank you sir, I'll just…" She quickly bowed, grabbing her bag to leave.
"If you're this scared of vampires why did you decided to take the job?" Xiao Nai asked, stopping her from moving any further. Weiwei felt is was being tested again. In face of this, she squared her shoulders turning to him with a smile.
"I'm not scared of them." Xiao Nai smirked, before clicking his teeth out. He chuckled when he heard her heart rate speed up, her smiling vanishing from her lips. Clicking them back into place, he watched her tighten her grip on her purse, her facial expressions open for him to read like a book. "That's not fair." Leaning back in his chair, he placed his hands together. Xiao Nai suddenly felt the need to calm her fears.
"Do you remember the vampire from last night?" Weiwei nodded, the image of the tall stranger came to mind. "Do you remember what he said to me?" She thought back to the conversation. Her main concern at the moment was making sure that Shanshan was alright, he had seemed to be interested in her for some reason.
"He spoke about you consuming human blood again." Xiao Nai stood up, walking over to the heated fridge and pulling out a bottle of True Blood.
"I stopped drinking non synthetic human blood when this finally came about. That's why my stock runs low almost every day. I need more the synthetic blood than normal blood to function just as fast as other vampires, but I rather drink this than taking it from someone with a beating heart." Weiwei looked at him slightly confused. She had made sure everything in there was in order and up to date every day.
"Have I not been stocking it properly?" She looked generally worried. Xiao Nai found himself trying to not smile at her. That wasn't the question he thought she would ask.
"No, that's not what I'm meaning. I'm meaning, you are safe here. No vampire will harm you in this building or district. I will not harm you." Weiwei smiled at him, it was soft, one that had no intentions behind it, to get something from him. Just one that came naturally to her.
"Thank you, but I never believed you would. If you wanted to, you already would have." She went to leave again, but something stopped her. She wanted to know why. Why her? "Sir, If I may ask, why me? There are better hackers out there, your even a better hacker than I am. Why did you want me?"
"I am better, but I am better because I'm faster." He took a sip of the blood, licking his lips afterwards. The taste was still something he never could use to. "But not many hackers would see a sleeping Vampire's coffin and not open it." She tilted her head to the side, her eyes glancing at the hidden door.
"So it was a test." Weiwei whispered to herself, knowing her initial thinking was right. Xiao Nai walked back to his desk, his eyes once more on the information they had just obtained.
"Goodnight Miss Bei." She bowed, smiling at him.
"Goodnight Sir." She quickly left, passing Yu Banshan on her way out. He watched her walk quickly down the hall and to the elevator, a smile on her face, her cheeks slightly red. Looking at his boss, he noticed his smile, like he was pleased and happy. Walking over, he leaned on the desk, his hand lying flat on some pictures Xiao Nai had sent him to print out a few minutes ago.
"So did you finally taste her?" He asked, wondering why else his boss would be this happy and her this eliated. Without blinking and faster then Yu Banshan could react, Xiao Nai had dug a pen deep into the middle of his hand pinning him to the table. Yu Banshan took in a ragged deep breath glaring at his boss. Gripping it with one hand he took it, getting blood on the pictures below. "You could have just said no." He dropped the pen on the desk once more, handing him the bloody photos. Xiao Nai took them, his eyes quickly glancing over them.
Handing them back to him, along with a USB drive he pulled out of the desktop.
"Send this and some clean photos to the local police. They have been stockpiling ammunition and are planning an assault, on who I don't know yet. But that's enough evidence to raid their warehouse."
"Yes boss." Yu Banshan went to leave, but Xiao Nai stood up.
"Before you head out, make sure Miss Bei gets back into the apartments. She should be leaving the building in a few moments."
"Whatever you need." Yu Banshan gave him a smile and a chuckle before quickly leaving, following his bosses orders.
"Weiwei, I'm really okay. I'm sorry I forgot to tell you but I really needed this linguistic book tonight. I have reports to translate on the matter and need the help."
"But you don't know German!"
"Exactly, why I need the linguistic book. I know some German." She defended, holding on the phone while going through the texts in front of her. "Tell me why you are just getting home again?"
"I was just about to finish up to head home, when some idiot tried to back hack me. Me! Can you believe it? So I had to go manuel, and lost track of time...and Boss Xiao ended up helping me." Shanshan placed the book she was holding back on the self.
"Our boss?!" She exclaimed, having a couple of eyes turn to her. Shanshan gave a slight wave before moving onto another book, trying to not speak too loud. "What happened?"
"He saved the hack. Made it so I could finish backtracking the asshole who tried to hack me back into their server. I finally got into their system!"
"I will never understand your ways, but I'm so happy for you. What was he like?"
"The hacker, not that great-"
"Boss Xiao!" Shanshan shook her head, knowing her friend was just dancing around the issue.
"Yes, of course. He was...interesting."
"Just interesting?"
"I don't know. I just...he's interesting."
"A wordless Weiwei, I haven't seen this since middle school when Zhan Tianxia said hello to you in the halls." Shanshan reached for a book, her hand gripping it the same time as someone else. Turning she looked up at the vampire Feng Teng. She pulled it a little but he just cocked his head to the side, giving her a smirk. "Weiwei, I'm going to have to call you back." Ending the call, Shanshan eyed at the vampire but not letting go of the book.
"Your the vampire from the other night."
"Miss Xue, I thought I would be more memorable than that." His voice sank into her, the memory of his lips against the back of her hand popped up to the forefront of her mind.
"Feng Teng."
"Your bosses boss. Now with this, I would like this book." He pulled slightly on it, but she held firm. Both knew he could rip it right out of her hands, yet he seemed intrigued by her strong will.
"I would love to give it to you, but I need this in order to finish translating documents for a meeting in a couple of days." She watched him sigh before leaning down to stare into her eyes.
"I said, I would like you to give me the book." She looked at him confused, before shaking her head.
"There's probably more in storage and I had it first before you rudely grabbed it. If you ask someone who works here you can probably obtain a copy." Feng Teng looked at her confused, his grip losing enough for her to grab it. Pulling it close to her chest, Shanshan bowed her head before walking towards the register. Feng Teng followed her closely behind. It wasn't until a few steps to checkout did she turned on him, her eyes fierce.
"Xiao Nai made it clear we are not food. We are just workers, so please respect that." Feng Teng smirked, looking at the small human trying to be big and demanding.
"You do know I am over a thousand years older than you?" He watched her reaction, but surprised that there wasn't much of one.
"Well than as an elder you should know how to respect other people's privacy. Including blood privacy." Reaching out, he gripped her chin in his hand, making her eyes stare up into his. She struggled for a second but he merely looked amused.
"Expose your neck to me, and allow me to drink." Feng Teng used a strongest wave he could muster but she merely hit his hand away, pulling herself free. Shanshan hugged the book to her tighter, almost like she is fighting off tears.
"I will never do that." Turning she quickly paid for the book and left the store. One of the workers came over to him, with a bright smile.
"Is there anything I can help you with?" Feng Teng, turned his eyes on her.
"I would like you to do a cartwheel down the aisle." The woman's face went blank, before going to do several chartwheels until she made it down the end of the aisle. Feng Teng's eyes watched Shanshan run past the window and down the street. A smile spreading onto his lips. "Interesting." For the first time in a while, Feng Teng was beginning to have fun.
Weiwei sat in the break room, next to Shanshan. She was sipping her tea, while listening to Shanshan go over how she crushed the meeting.
"Those Germans had no idea, that I knew they were trying to trick us. Swindle us! Those vampires don't know who they're dealing with." Weiwei smiled, patting Shanshan on her head, just like she used to do when they were kids.
"Good Shanshan." Shanshan laughed, shaking her off. A couple of their co-workers gave them weird glances, before returning to their food. Hao Mei appeared, holding a folder filled with papers.
"Weiwei! Thank god I found you. I have to put out a fire in the personnel department, apparently our old translater wants to come back, but she can't and-"
"So I'm not losing my job?" Shanshan looked shocked at him.
"Of course not. She lost us money left and right. Your the only one who seems to be able to see through foreign vampires schemes. Besides she's a vampire now, she can't come back to work the day shift."
"Thank heavens." Shanshan let out a shaky breath. Weiwei giggled at her over dramatic friend.
"Weiwei, can you take these up to Xiao Nai's desk? They are all the papers he needs to sign for tomorrow morning and few documents sent by the lawyers over the shared warehouse we just got in District 2." Nodding she gave her mug to Shanshan.
"Got it, just remember to breath before you go deal with the other issues. You'll give yourself another Asthma attack." Taking the files, she waved goodbye to Shanshan before making her way to the elevator. Hao Mei stopped her before she got on.
"I heard you met Xiao Nai a couple of nights ago."
"I'm sorry, I know I was supposed to be here that late but-"
"You're not in trouble. I just wanted to ask what you thought of him." Weiwei shot a smile at him.
"He's not the worse boss I've ever had." She knew to remain coy with Hao Mei. With the elevator doors closing she left him to ponder what that meant. Making her way to the top floor, she opened the folder to see how to organize it for him. The doors opened, and she slowly made her way to his office, her mind already organizing and sorting through the few documents. Cursing Hao Mei for not paperclipping the pages together again. She immediately began to lay them out on his desk, sorting them faster with each page. The paper clips in her hands, when the sound of gunfire rang through the lower levels of the building. The few papers she had in her hand scattering to the ground.