She started, stammering awkwardly. “Well…he’s got…all sorts of skills…”

It was then that she realised she still didn’t know enough about him to make a clear judgement of his character. Yet, she had to say something quite good about him – he needed the perfect sales pitch to get Ukaid to hire him. She hoped he didn’t catch a whiff about her seeming dearth of knowledge about their object of discussion. He gazed at him intently, sizing him up. He nodded his head slowly as he reviewed him and profiled his character.

“Croid huh?” he wondered, rubbing his hand on his jaw. He didn’t seem so impressed with him. He couldn’t deny that he looked like he could pull his own weight when he needed to. However, there was something offish about this person that he couldn’t wrap his finger around. But, he didn’t want to disappoint Felicity with his comments or decision. He had grown to become fond of her in recent days.

Well, he might just be useful, he thought. He sighed. Felicity was the kind of lady who wouldn’t let anyone experience any dull moment whenever she was around. She always made sure he had anything he wanted, especially on weekends. No exceptions. Felicity gave him an over exaggerated smile just to sway his decision in her favour.

He thought about this clearly. Well, there was no way I’m going to turn her down.

“All right, I’ll take him.” Felicity jumped up and down repeatedly, like she had just won herself a winning raffle ticket.

“However, there’s a catch anyway,” he quickly added. That made her joy short-lived.

“What is that?” she asked, her heart racing in her chest.

“If you can put these vacancies up by tonight and point any customers looking for work in our direction, I’ll consider hiring him right away,” Ukaid offered.

She was bemused. “Come on, that’s nothing, trust me. I’ll take care of it right away.”

“You won’t regret this! I’ll make sure of it,” Felicity promised, overly happy as she returned to Croid’s side at the bar excited to tell him the news. She bolted to his side while Ukaid watched her gallivant off toward the man. He raised his glass again toward Croid who hurriedly did the same. They both grinned at each other.

Ukaid watched as she delivered the news to him. He watched as Croid dropped everything in his hands and carried her shoulders high, swinging her about in the bar. He laughed out loud now.

I hope I don’t regret this, Ukaid murmured to himself as he downed his drink in one gulp.

Croid turned toward Ukaid only to catch his gaze lingering on Felicity’s ass. The veins on his cheeks coloured with blood. His face greened with envy. He wished he could bash the giant’s head in with one blow from one of the barrels so he could teach him a lesson not to ogle another man’s woman.

“The barrels are done, what now?” asked Croid, becoming cold and unapproachable all of a sudden. His usual accommodating self had frittered into thin air. All that was left of him now was pure jealousy in the place of the friendliness that once shrouded his face. He sure didn’t like Felicity’s overly flirtatious gestures toward the stranger. Little did he know that it wasn’t Ukaid’s first time in meeting the young, lanky beauty.

Being a smart girl, she didn’t have to be told why his attitude had become unwelcoming out of the blue. She surmised it was the way she had related with Ukaid. Even though it was obviously how she related with all and sundry, she sometimes overdid it just to measure how much Croid really cared. She did know nothing good would come out of it other than the fact that his blood would become hotter than the spring coals of fire. She could tell he was boiling already.

She wanted to distance herself from him but before she could, he caught her by the hand.

“Did you enjoy flirting with the fella?” Croid asked.

“I didn’t know you cared so much…” Felicity replied, laughing.

“Isn’t that a hilarious jeer, my lady?” Croid replied, sarcastically.

“Well, Ukaid wanted to speak with you about the said work, if you don’t mind,” she revealed.

He understood she was doing everything in her power to get him the job. The least he could do was show some gratitude despite his eagerness to end up in a petty unharming squabble.

“Well hurry up then, get your ass there…” Felicity indicated. She nodded in Ukaid’s direction just for him to get the gist that he was needed elsewhere in the bar. “I’ll sort the rest of the stock out, you don’t worry,” she reassured Croid.

Taking a deep breath, Croid breathed nervously. “I can do this. It’s as easy as pie…” he thought to himself.

He walked up to Ukaid in sheer confidence. He knew he should at least respect him like a gentleman. He pulled up, stood beside him then took his seat.

“So your name is Croid, boy?” Ukaid began without as much as giving him a glance.

Not that you really need to know who I am, but we’d just have to go with that, Croid thought to himself.

“Yes,” he replied carrying on with the lie.

For a moment, Ukaid said nothing, his gaze still fixated on Felicity who didn’t seem to be interested in the duo again. She went about her business like it was just another day at the Hanford Inn Bar, as if it were just another time for two men to talk shop. He loved her joviality, if not anything else about her. After pouring Croid a drink from his bottle, he began the conversation off with a question.

“How do you know Felicity?” Ukaid asked, digressing.

Croid coughed up the drink he was trying to down. He was caught unaware by his question. He tried the remnant but he couldn’t. Ukaid paid him no attention. He still had his eyes on the woman of Hanford Inn.

“Sorry sir, a distant friend from long ago. I’ve just moved into town looking for work you see. She said that the mine’s where it’s at…” Croid tried to explain, knowing fully well that he was lying.

Ukaid didn’t have to rack his brain to know that he wasn’t being honest. But, he didn’t seem to be bothered about his lies.

Every man tells a lie. Every man has told a lie once in his life to salvage a situation. He thought, overlooking Croid’s economical dangle with the truth. He didn’t have to judge the poor man for having his own secrets. He knew he wasn’t even in a position to judge anyone. Truth be told, he was a man whose family were all vampires. All he seemed to preoccupy himself with was the manpower that Croid could add to the workforce. Not deplete it.

“I’m going to set this straight for you. I’m incredibly busy and I don’t have the time to give you a normal interview,” explained Ukaid.

Croid nodded his head, following every bit of information that the man shared with him.

“I understand,” he replied.

“I’m having a hard time sorting out finances. The cash-flow is all over the place. So tell me what can you do? What makes you worth employing? Why do you deserve to earn money other than any other candidate? What can you bring?” asked Ukaid, baiting him.

A short silence lingered between them as both men sized up to each other.

At first Croid felt like he was being crushed by the weight of his words. However, he soon realised that he was nothing but a natural at problem solving. This would prove just useful for the cause, he thought to himself.

He cast a serious glance at Ukaid. “Well, what is really money when you think about it?” Croid replied.

“What you get paid. Or what else? It’s what workers get paid after they work. It’s called income, if I’m not mistaken,” explained Ukaid, taken aback by his seemingly inane question.

“Whilst I agree, money is also simply just wage labour. From your point of view it’s what you reward me for the labour work I’d be giving you. You see the labour effort we give to those who own the means of production grants us money or rather wage labour. It really doesn’t have much of a value because you aren’t trading any resources. At least not from my point of view it’s just an illusion and a currency accepted by the majority. Thus, the value’s being the work ethic itself.” Croid explained.

Ukaid paused for a moment to think about what Croid had just said. He was moved by his flawless understanding of such technical matters. “I never really thought about it like that, but now that you explained it, it all seemed really easy. I must confess, I’m impressed,” Ukaid said.

“Maybe he might be useful after all,” Ukaid silently said to himself.

Croid continued. “You speak of the problems you are having with cash-flow. I can fix that…” he nodded. He was oblivious to the fact that he had left an indelible imprint on the mind of the giant.

“If you would be willing to give me the chance, I promise that you’ll be reaping the benefits. I know how mines work, I’ll restructure the way you process everything to drastically improve profits. And rather than employees get paid based on the general wage I’m guessing you distribute, they’ll get paid based on work ethic, what they produce and how hard they work will be what they’ll earn. This method will boost profits and force effective work ethic” Croid summarized.

At first, Ukaid had decided to hire Croid as one of the members of the general labour force for the new section of the mine that he was setting up. But, he seemed to arrive at the conclusion that his way of reasoning was way beyond that of a pedestrian – he seemed to know way more than any person in his age grade. Heck, he did even impress him. Ukaid had seen men all over, men of all calibers and it took a great deal before he ever got impressed. There was no way in hell he was ever going to fix him up with such a menial role.

It would be a waste of a functional brain with good talent, he thought.

It didn’t take long before he jumped to the conclusion that Croid was going to be the perfect fit for the role of manager that he had been searching for all this while. He would ultimately be a fool to let such an opportunity pass him by.

Ukaid looked at Croid, checking out the kind of clothes he had on his back. It wouldn’t befit a newly-acquired manager of Fresno Mine.

“Hmm…we’ll have to do something about those clothes” suggested Ukaid.

Croid was at a loss. He didn’t seem to understand why he would need a change of clothes for the kind of job that required him to be at a mine for the better part of a day.

“And you will need to try to speak more formally with the position I will offer you,” Ukaid added.

“I don’t understand. Why would I need to?” Croid asked.

“Well, I guess you’ll find out soon enough, boy.” Ukaid added.

Croid didn’t know what to say to that.

“We’ll start Monday. I’ll have a carriage waiting outside at this specific time. I hope you won’t disappoint me” revealed Ukaid.

“I shall try my best not to, sir,” he added sensing that he had just got himself a new boss.

“Fresno is quite the distance to the north,” he explained.

They shook hands firmly as they both said their goodbyes to each other. Meanwhile, Felicity was hell-bent on unravelling the incredible cover story that Croid had been fooling everyone with.

*****

The Himura Mansion,

Same Day.

The Himuras had just received a letter. It arrived at the mansion not long ago. It was an invitation and one that they were least expecting. It came from the Lovecrafts. Specifically, an invitation to the Lovecraft Family Ball that would be held sometime later in the week.

Malcolm read the letter surprised that they had yet to host a ball in order to get familiar with the nobles. He wasn’t expecting they could bounce back so soon, after the death of one of their family members. He wore a frown on his face as he read and re-read the contents of the message.

“What is it?” asked Artemus, concerned.

“It’s an invitation. They are having a ball…the Lovecrafts,” revealed Malcolm.

“What?” his fellow frontman, Artemus countered.

“I must say, I was not expecting that. With a fellow brother dead, they are still going to have a town gathering…” confessed Malcolm.

“How odd indeed…” a dazed Artemus added.

“And we are all invited?” asked Vellesca. She had seemed to overhear them from the garden. And she cut in as she swung her Companion from one side to the other.

“I wonder what Thorian’s going to think when he hears about this…” Malcolm incurred.

There was a pause for a moment as each superbeing pondered on what was going to be the likely consequences of their decision to attend to the ball. They knew Thorian had the final decision to make. Because whatever it was that he decided on, they would have to follow, without flouting any rules or going against any of his wishes.

Vellesca punctured the silence with her sharp lips. “Well what are we waiting for? Let’s go find out!”

*****