As the sun peaked in the sky, Edward sat, utterly baffled by his own negligence. Bringing out an all too familiar checkered board, he laid out the pieces in their proper fashion. "I don't know what to do.", he muttered, playing each piece as he always did, but still, each scenario he set up for his mahogany pieces, his white pieces always managed to get the upper hand. One by one, each piece fell in defeat, until only the white pieces remained. He then turned to his right and saw the dark, greif stricken king, lying amongst the casualties. "There are no solutions.", he thought.
"How much longer are you going to keep playing that horrible game?", asked Catoria, slipping through the door, stupefied by the tormented expression of her boss. "You're wasting time. We need to figure out why all but one of those godforsaken soldiers won't wake up.", she commented crudely. "What's the point? The writing's on the wall Catoria, the barrier between equality and prejudice is broken.", Edward countered.
Catoria felt a miniscule amount of sympathy seep through her black heart, "Hopelessness, such a rare feeling...", she uttered in a whisper, turning to Edward, whose eyes were obscured from staring at the board for an hour. "Perhaps, it is, there's nothing I can do.", he sighed, laying his head on the desk, hopeless. "It's no good.", he stated once more. "The seams of an already unstable structure are ripping apart, there's no point in denying it...".
"Do you mind if I give you a query?", questioned Catoria. "Go ahead, nothing's going to help...", expressed Edward, despondent. Catoria crossed her arms, unnaturally angry at the prospect, "Around here there are things you just don't get the message for.". Edward trembled, "Like what?", he shuddered. "You think I wouldn't notice the intruders in this institution, the hostile looks, the mild smell of a gas potent to humans? The roses, the nettles, a slight hint of blood, it's the recipe for trouble!", the succubus informed.
"Are you sure it isn't already too late?", pondered Edward. Catoria rambled on anxiously, "I know that someone's trying to make every resident of this place fade away, starting the humans before working its way to us...", she muttered, her eyes half-closed. "I must admit to you, but I regret one decision more than any that you made in your term as boss...". Edward wasn't shocked in the least, but was still surprised by Catoria's conclusion.
Her questioning quip brought out a grin from him, "Are you sure you want to ask that?" she responded quizzically. "I think I'm as good as done.", he asserted, he put his face into his hands and groaned. "Your management, as much as I'd like to say you helped the syndicate after your father's term as boss, I think your poor communication just became too easy to exploit. This mansion feels far larger than it is because you delay so many changes, so many things that you can't see because of the corporate greed instilled into you.".
"And you're saying that you know how to fix it?!", questioned the vampire in a scowl. "That may be the case...", answered Catoria, pulling out a sheet of paper from her undergarments. "A crime syndicate is far from ideal as a 'haven of equality' as you might want to call it, so I took matters into my own hands...", the succubus explained. Edward took the document from Catoria's hands, "This can't be what I think it is, can it?", he pondered.
Edward carefully read the document. Immediately, he saw the word 'deed', in gigantic writing at the top. He felt threatened, but didn't want to cease an opportunity for improvement. "This could change everything, but it would be a huge hit on our income.", he stated. "It's up to you, but if you don't take it, both you and your subordinates could end up in an even more dire situation...".
"Give me time, this is a lot to process.", the boss has expressed as he read through Catoria's handiwork over and over again. "You have my permission to exterminate the gas, but you must report your findings back to me. I'm starting to grow concerned about your 'outside activities'...". Catoria accepted her superior's input and flew toward the smell, but as she got closer, her vision blurred, had something hit her? Shades of green reflected in her view before she ultimately blacked out. Her last clear sight was of two young hopefuls rushing to her destination. She had hope, even as she felt herself get carried away, even if her own fate was yet to be determined.