Free Demon Blood (Vampire in the City Book 5) by Donna Ansari Page A

exact area I had previously sat in when I had been a full-time employee about six months ago.
    “This is where you will be sitting,” she said, gesturing to a non-descript and empty cube. The furniture was so bland that I couldn’t say for sure if it was the desk I used to sit at.
    Marianne handed me a scrap of paper. “This is your log-in information. I’ll let you get set up and come back in a minute with your project for today and a non-disclosure agreement.” Then she abruptly turned and walked away.
    Sighing, I sat down and turned on the computer. My assigned user name, I noted, was Freelance42, and my password was Welcome. I was watching the computer turn on, when I heard a voice say, “Hi, first day?”
    Jumping, I looked up to see a dark, attractive male face peeking over the cube wall. “Sort of,” I said. “I used to be on night shift full-time. But now I’m just a freelancer, here for the day.”
    The man laughed. “Of course you’re a freelancer. More than half of us are. They just don’t want to pay health insurance for full time.”
    I held up the scrap of paper. “As far as I know, there are only forty-one other freelancers here.”
    “They recycle the numbers when they get to three digits,” he said. “My name’s Ashwathama, but you can call me Ash.”
    “Yes,” I agreed. “That I can probably handle. I’m Emma.”
    Ash suddenly had a look of mild panic. “Boss’s here.” Then he ducked back behind the cube wall.
    “Non-disclosure agreement,” I heard Marianne say behind me as she dropped a thin, manila folder on the desk. “And your first project.” A folder about three inches thick landed as I swiveled around in my chair to look at her. “This is due at three, and just get the NDA back to me before you leave today.”
    She was gone just as quickly as she appeared, and I opened the folder to take a look at my assignment. It was nothing overly complicated, but about two hours later, I felt like I could use a coffee, so I made my way to one of the many kitchens.
    Since I had never been on the day staff, I had never before noticed how much free food was left about. There were large trays of sandwiches from a nearby artisanal shop, as well as fresh fruit in baskets, and, most exciting of all, a beverage fridge filled with sodas. The latter had most certainly not been present when I had been full time. An endless supply of free Diet Coke was not something that I’d easily forget.
    As I stood there, trying to pick a sandwich without touching them all, I heard a voice behind me say, “Sandwiches again? I thought today was supposed to be mac and cheese.”
    I turned around and saw Ash. “Is this for some occasion? Or just for the launch in general?”
    He shrugged, picking a sandwich off the pile. “Who knows? Ever since the new boss took over a month or so ago, the perks have been much better. I’ve only had to pay for lunch twice since then.”
    Opening the beverage fridge, I was happy to see a stock of Diet Coke. “How long have you been here?” I asked.
    “Almost a year now,” Ash said. “Could you grab me one?”
    “And you’re a freelancer too?” I passed him a can.
    “Yeah, but I don’t mind. I never have to work more than forty hours a week, and I can take off whenever I want.”
    “True,” I said, remembering how annoying it was to get a day off or even leave an hour early when I was full-time staff.
    We walked back to our respective cubes, and even with taking bites of the sandwich while working, I was able to get through the job by 2:30. I knocked on Marianne’s open doorframe.
    “Are you done? Good. Leave it here and bring me your forms. I think we’re finished for the day, but can you come back tomorrow?”
    “Um, sure. What time?”
    “The same time is fine. I’ll have a new ID card for you then.” She began looking down at the folder then, and I took it as a sign to leave.
    A few minutes later and I was back out on the street. For some reason, I